Today we started off with a late breakfast and devotions. After devotions, Pastor Pete, a local youth pastor, came to guide the team through a unique session of drama. He had the team talk about the many issues we observed and experienced during our week. At times they then had to illustrate these issues through body movements, scenes and dramas. Lunch was hot food and sausages from a street vendor. It was surprisingly good.
In the afternoon we helped out at the Saturday Homework Club for Somali children. The team helped the kids with math and language exercises.
Our final event was a debrief on the shores of Lake Ontario. We talked about our experience and encouraged one another and prayed as a team.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Day 9 - St. Francis, S.T.E.P. and MiMi's
Today was a day we got to sleep in a little bit, which was a welcome development from yesterday. After breakfast and devotions we headed across town for our final day at St. Francis Table. Once again we had a fantastic time serving there. This ministry has been the highlight of the trip for me. Seeing our team serve with such enthusiasm, hard work and, most of all, loving hearts has been something I will always remember. If you remember, yesterday we presented Brother John with a small token of our appreciation. Today he blessed is with the gift of St. Francis Cross pins for each member of our team. He has never given a gift to any other volunteer group. We were able to wear them as we served today. After we had cleaned up, we gathered together in the chapel with Br. John and the other monks and prayed for them. Jake prayed a very moving prayer asking God to bless their continued work with the poor of Toronto.
After leaving St. Francis we drove across town to meet up with the leaders of S.T.E.P., a new ministry to help women escape the sex trade. We helped them clean out the rooms in an old church donated for their offices and also baked about 200 cookies for the ministry to hand out. The team then participated in a q&a about the ministry.
After dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant the team returned to the church for devotions. We had a very emotional time of devotions as I shared a passage from I John 4 and told about how that passage affected my life and how it relates to what we have been doing here in Toronto.
After leaving St. Francis we drove across town to meet up with the leaders of S.T.E.P., a new ministry to help women escape the sex trade. We helped them clean out the rooms in an old church donated for their offices and also baked about 200 cookies for the ministry to hand out. The team then participated in a q&a about the ministry.
After dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant the team returned to the church for devotions. We had a very emotional time of devotions as I shared a passage from I John 4 and told about how that passage affected my life and how it relates to what we have been doing here in Toronto.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Day 8 - St. Bart's, Sushi and St. Francis
Mr. Savidge returns as blogger today.
Oh my goodness. 4:30am is a difficult time to wake up, especially a week into a mission trip. I was reminded today that I am only a morning person if you count just the half hour before noon. Breakfast at 5 and then ten weary, sleepy people piled into the van for the short drive to St. Bartholomew's Church. Each Thursday at 6am St. Bart's opens it doors to the poor and homeless in their neighborhood and provides a hot meal, a place to sit and talk and a friendly face. We helped set up the hall, prepared the meal and served it to whoever walked through the doors. Even though we were so tired, the team did a great job, jumping into every assigned task with enthusiasm and a servant's heart. Josh cooked dozens of eggs, Morgan made a huge pile of pancakes, Carlie, Bekah and Ashlee helped serve the meal and Aaron and Jake washed the pile of pots and pans. After the clean-up, Father Robert and Bob, the church's trustee chairman, gave us a guided tour of this old Anglican Church. Father Robert showed us some of the church's ornate communion chalices and priests vestments and explained their history and symbolism.
We returned to our headquarters for a few hours of blessed nap-time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For lunch we experienced some Japanese culture, one of the larger immigrant groups in Toronto, with a meal of sushi and chicken. I am not good with the chopsticks and embarrassed my wife by resorting to eating the rice "Somali style." (if you don't know what that means, read our earlier posts).
We again ministered at St. Francis Table for dinner. We were joined by a group of high school students from Father Bressani Catholic High School int he Toronto suburbs. It was great to be able to minister with others and showed them the ropes. We also presented Brother John with a copy of a book by Raniero Cantalamessa, a fellow Capuchin monk that I had brought with me to read but hadn't got to yet. He was so appreciative especially when he saw that everyone on the team had signed it as a thank you for welcoming us into his ministry and being such and encouragement to us.
We want to thank you for your prayers. The team shook off a very hard day on Wednesday that had threatened to pull down our excitement and heart for service. Instead the team relied on the power of God and dedicated every remaining moment to serving Him with all our heart. I am so proud to be able to serve with these amazing kids. I want to thank each and every parent for your support and prayers. You should be so proud of these young men and women!!
Oh my goodness. 4:30am is a difficult time to wake up, especially a week into a mission trip. I was reminded today that I am only a morning person if you count just the half hour before noon. Breakfast at 5 and then ten weary, sleepy people piled into the van for the short drive to St. Bartholomew's Church. Each Thursday at 6am St. Bart's opens it doors to the poor and homeless in their neighborhood and provides a hot meal, a place to sit and talk and a friendly face. We helped set up the hall, prepared the meal and served it to whoever walked through the doors. Even though we were so tired, the team did a great job, jumping into every assigned task with enthusiasm and a servant's heart. Josh cooked dozens of eggs, Morgan made a huge pile of pancakes, Carlie, Bekah and Ashlee helped serve the meal and Aaron and Jake washed the pile of pots and pans. After the clean-up, Father Robert and Bob, the church's trustee chairman, gave us a guided tour of this old Anglican Church. Father Robert showed us some of the church's ornate communion chalices and priests vestments and explained their history and symbolism.
We returned to our headquarters for a few hours of blessed nap-time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For lunch we experienced some Japanese culture, one of the larger immigrant groups in Toronto, with a meal of sushi and chicken. I am not good with the chopsticks and embarrassed my wife by resorting to eating the rice "Somali style." (if you don't know what that means, read our earlier posts).
We again ministered at St. Francis Table for dinner. We were joined by a group of high school students from Father Bressani Catholic High School int he Toronto suburbs. It was great to be able to minister with others and showed them the ropes. We also presented Brother John with a copy of a book by Raniero Cantalamessa, a fellow Capuchin monk that I had brought with me to read but hadn't got to yet. He was so appreciative especially when he saw that everyone on the team had signed it as a thank you for welcoming us into his ministry and being such and encouragement to us.
We want to thank you for your prayers. The team shook off a very hard day on Wednesday that had threatened to pull down our excitement and heart for service. Instead the team relied on the power of God and dedicated every remaining moment to serving Him with all our heart. I am so proud to be able to serve with these amazing kids. I want to thank each and every parent for your support and prayers. You should be so proud of these young men and women!!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Prayers and Praises
Please continue to be in prayer for our team. They are very, very tired and we are trying to get them some rest before our last two days of ministry. Wednesday was a very difficult day and the team was stretched spiritually. They came together at the end of the day and prayed together for each other and the remainder of our trip.
Day 7- St. Francis Table and Bloor Landsdowne
Carlie is our team's blogger of the day!
We got to sleep in today! Breakfast was at 8:30 am instead of 7:30 am. After breakfast, we went to Saint Francis Table. We spent the time serving the people during the lunch hour. It was fun because we got to help setting up the restaurant. We helped clean up afterward. Then, we went to the mall for an hour to go shopping before our next service opportunity. We went to Bloor Landsdowne Fellowship to help prepare and serve their community dinner, an outreach to the poor in their neighborhood. After we finished serving, we got our food and sat down with the guests. We served the guests in any way that we could. Tomorrow, we make phone calls home. (Mrs. Savidge- expect your children's calls around 8:00 pm).
At St. Francis Table
At Bloor Landsdowne Fellowship
We got to sleep in today! Breakfast was at 8:30 am instead of 7:30 am. After breakfast, we went to Saint Francis Table. We spent the time serving the people during the lunch hour. It was fun because we got to help setting up the restaurant. We helped clean up afterward. Then, we went to the mall for an hour to go shopping before our next service opportunity. We went to Bloor Landsdowne Fellowship to help prepare and serve their community dinner, an outreach to the poor in their neighborhood. After we finished serving, we got our food and sat down with the guests. We served the guests in any way that we could. Tomorrow, we make phone calls home. (Mrs. Savidge- expect your children's calls around 8:00 pm).
At St. Francis Table
At Bloor Landsdowne Fellowship
A Special Visit
Today one of our team received a special surprise. Morgan Skalkowski has a great aunt who lives here in Toronto. Aunt Thelma has been following our progress here on the blog for several days and decided to stop in at St. Francis Table at the end of our shift to surprise Morgan. Imagine Morgan's surprise to find out she had a visitor. It had been several years since they had seen each other. Mr. Savidge showed Aunt Thelma around the ministry as Morgan finished serving the clients at her tables. After she was done Morgan introduced her to everyone on the mission team and to the staff at St. Francis and then Morgan, Aunt Thelma, Mr. Savidge and Josh sat down to a wonderful lunch. She was so impressed by the work Morgan was doing and told us all how proud she was. Thank you for the surprise, Aunt Thelma!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Day 6 - Booth Industries, St. Francis Table and Streetwalk
Jake and Aaron are our bloggers for today. Here is their report:
Goooood Tuesday everyone. Jake here doin ze blog entry. Today we woke up to a good start. We headed out to the other side of the city to help Booth Ministries (in partnership with Salvation Army) assemble various things. They work with mentally disabled adults so they can have a job to do and earn some extra cash and give them a "purpose" to their day. It was very relaxing and good to just talk to some of those people. We then went to eat a handful of food at the Somali restaurant. And yes, I do literally mean "hand"-ful. We had to eat with just our right hand, no utensils. Right hand = eating hand, left hand = "not" eating hand....yeaaa....um so that food was very good. Some others had trouble but we worked through it. =) (Mr. Savidge: We were encouraged to eat in the traditional Somali way, which also meant that the women do not speak unless spoken to by a male. Jake, Josh, Aaron and I did our best not to talk to our ladies for as long as possible to see if they would actually keep silent. They were not amused.)
After THAT we went on over to St. Francis' Table to help serve, prepare, etc. food for their restaurant for the homeless/poor. They must pay $2 to get in, then after that they are seated and one of our volunteer servers (today it was Becca, Carlie, Ashlee, Morgan and Josh) went to take their order. Mr. and Mrs. Savidge helped plate the food to be taken out while Aaron and myself bused tables and washed the dishes.
Finally, we went on a very interesting night walk. Here's what happened: We all were seated in the gym. Holly, a guide here, put into our minds a situation. We were the person in this story, therefore we were in this "situation". Its our first night on the streets. We just ran away from an abusive home, took the first train to Toronto and have $2 on our person and no food, shelter or any form of entertainment. We're completely alone. Our team split up into two smaller groups and then walked the streets of Toronto. We had to literally get something to eat (that was wise) with our $2 and then, with our guide, tell him where we would sleep, with him giving us advice if that would be good or not if we were to sleep there. At the end, we took the subway and street car back to the church for debriefing. Now I'm here typing our day!! woo hoo. Mr. Savidge just knocked on our window from the street as he was coming back from parking the van and I jumped out of the couch. (Mr. Savidge: this just about made my day!!) I thought some guy was breaking in. Talk about a heart attack. Anyway. We'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Keep us in your prayers!!!
-JD
Goooood Tuesday everyone. Jake here doin ze blog entry. Today we woke up to a good start. We headed out to the other side of the city to help Booth Ministries (in partnership with Salvation Army) assemble various things. They work with mentally disabled adults so they can have a job to do and earn some extra cash and give them a "purpose" to their day. It was very relaxing and good to just talk to some of those people. We then went to eat a handful of food at the Somali restaurant. And yes, I do literally mean "hand"-ful. We had to eat with just our right hand, no utensils. Right hand = eating hand, left hand = "not" eating hand....yeaaa....um so that food was very good. Some others had trouble but we worked through it. =) (Mr. Savidge: We were encouraged to eat in the traditional Somali way, which also meant that the women do not speak unless spoken to by a male. Jake, Josh, Aaron and I did our best not to talk to our ladies for as long as possible to see if they would actually keep silent. They were not amused.)
After THAT we went on over to St. Francis' Table to help serve, prepare, etc. food for their restaurant for the homeless/poor. They must pay $2 to get in, then after that they are seated and one of our volunteer servers (today it was Becca, Carlie, Ashlee, Morgan and Josh) went to take their order. Mr. and Mrs. Savidge helped plate the food to be taken out while Aaron and myself bused tables and washed the dishes.
Finally, we went on a very interesting night walk. Here's what happened: We all were seated in the gym. Holly, a guide here, put into our minds a situation. We were the person in this story, therefore we were in this "situation". Its our first night on the streets. We just ran away from an abusive home, took the first train to Toronto and have $2 on our person and no food, shelter or any form of entertainment. We're completely alone. Our team split up into two smaller groups and then walked the streets of Toronto. We had to literally get something to eat (that was wise) with our $2 and then, with our guide, tell him where we would sleep, with him giving us advice if that would be good or not if we were to sleep there. At the end, we took the subway and street car back to the church for debriefing. Now I'm here typing our day!! woo hoo. Mr. Savidge just knocked on our window from the street as he was coming back from parking the van and I jumped out of the couch. (Mr. Savidge: this just about made my day!!) I thought some guy was breaking in. Talk about a heart attack. Anyway. We'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Keep us in your prayers!!!
-JD
Steve - An introduction
I wanted to introduce our ministry guide for this week. Steve Grant is with CSM-Toronto as a group leader, guiding and coordinating the mission teams that come to Toronto with CSM. He is our coach, boss, van co-pilot, connection, tour guide and so much more. Steve is able to give our team a real-world face to the issue of homelessness in Toronto. At age 55, Steve was downsized from a corporate position and soon found himself living on the streets. Through some of the ministries we are partnering with this week, Steve was able to find permanent housing, a loving community, and a way to minster to those that find themselves in similar positions. It is a joy to see our students interact with Steve and translate that relationship into a greater depth of love for those we meet on the streets and in the shelters of Toronto. We have also learned that Steve has more energy at 65 than these teenagers do (and way more than 42 year old Bible teachers).
Monday, April 13, 2009
Day 5 - St Bart's and Neighborlink
Bekah and Ashlee are our bloggers for today.
Here is their report for Monday: Today was a fantastic day! We started out this morning at St. Bart's Church cleaning up their church yard by performing various outdoor activities. We raked leaves and collected branches all morning. We were injury free with the exception of Mrs. Savidge getting a concussion from being attacked by a tree. hahaha (true story) Anyway, we continued the day at an absolutely fabulous Greek restaurant. This is the exact restaurant where the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" was filmed, WOOOHOOO!!. It was a marvelous meal. After that, we went to a small candy store with a huge selection of candy.
We then proceeded to subdivide into two work teams. We traveled to two different apartments where we cleaned for the elderly. It was long but successful and rewarding. We came back to the church and made an enormous amount of bagged lunches. Ashlee and Bekah made the best peanut butter and jelly sandwiches known to mankind (hahaha jk. everyone worked extremely hard). We were preparing these bagged lunches (with these amazing sandwiches, haha) for our sandwich run. We distributed these lunches and socks to the less fortunate that are currently living on the streets. This was an interesting and moving experience.
It was very eye-opening to be able to communicate and even relate with people we had never even met before. Even though we had a long and exhausting day it was well worth the work.
Here is their report for Monday: Today was a fantastic day! We started out this morning at St. Bart's Church cleaning up their church yard by performing various outdoor activities. We raked leaves and collected branches all morning. We were injury free with the exception of Mrs. Savidge getting a concussion from being attacked by a tree. hahaha (true story) Anyway, we continued the day at an absolutely fabulous Greek restaurant. This is the exact restaurant where the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" was filmed, WOOOHOOO!!. It was a marvelous meal. After that, we went to a small candy store with a huge selection of candy.
We then proceeded to subdivide into two work teams. We traveled to two different apartments where we cleaned for the elderly. It was long but successful and rewarding. We came back to the church and made an enormous amount of bagged lunches. Ashlee and Bekah made the best peanut butter and jelly sandwiches known to mankind (hahaha jk. everyone worked extremely hard). We were preparing these bagged lunches (with these amazing sandwiches, haha) for our sandwich run. We distributed these lunches and socks to the less fortunate that are currently living on the streets. This was an interesting and moving experience.
It was very eye-opening to be able to communicate and even relate with people we had never even met before. Even though we had a long and exhausting day it was well worth the work.
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