Je reviens (I'm back)

It's so good to be back with the saints in Montreal, enjoying the day to day churchlife!  Even though I'm not taking classes now, my days are busy.  In the mornings, the brothers and I have been helping with the construction of a fence around our meeting hall.  In the afternoons, I work on my co-op job search and get some reading done.  And at night, I've been visiting saints and attending meetings in French.  I notice a big difference from when I was here last year compared to now in terms of my communication in French.

The first photo is with David Wu (full-timer) and Achille, a brother from Paris who now lives in Montreal with his wife and 2 kids.  We had morning revival in French and afterwards had lunch together.  He doesn't speak English so I was forced to use my French :D

In the evenings, James and I would go for runs.  We're just 15 minutes away from the Olympic stadium so one night we ran here.

Dinner at one of our sister's houses.  They invited 2 gospel contacts (on the left) and some of us shared our testimonies of how we met the Lord.  Oh Lord, gain them for Your purpose!

Looking forward to seeing you at the summer training!  

Au revoir ville de Quebec!

Time flies when you're having fun.  Can't believe that my 5 weeks in Quebec City is already done!  I thank the Lord for all His sovereign arrangements in my environment, providing me with many opportunities to experience Him during my stay in Quebec City, despite being away from the saints.  The Montreal college students are on a bible reading schedule so that has kept me motivated to read the Word.  And the Lord provided me a faithful companion from Boston to call me every week for prayer.  Now I'm in Montreal enjoying the sweet churchlife.  What a summer!!

My final moments with my classmates.  Will miss them all!  Everyone got along together well and we had lots of laughs together.  In our program there were 7 levels, with 1 being for beginners and 7 being for the most advanced, and we were in level 4.  My grammar teacher in the bottom photo was one of the best teachers I ever had.  She always had a smile on her face and made sure everyone was on the same page.

Classmates + Program volunteers

My classmate Fernando lived in a Catholic monastery.  He invited us to his place for lunch.

Rodolfo (Puerto Rican), Fernando (Columbian), and Nico (Chilean).  My classmates came from all over the world!

Exterior view of the monastery 

Inside.  Lots of gold.

Here's my homestay mother in the middle.  The gentleman on the left is one of her friends who came over often for dinner.  It was good experience practising French with other Quebecois.  And Joe is right, I have become quite tan here in Quebec!!

So I've got a week and a half in Montreal before I head out to California.  Meanwhile, I plan to visit the saints here and start my co-op job search in Montreal for the fall semester.  I attended my second French prophesying meeting here, but this time I shared without reading.  Big improvement!  And I plan to attend all the other French meetings while I'm here.  Looking forward to blending with the saints here again.  

Miss you all.

Presque fini... (almost done)

One more week to go before I finish with my time here in Quebec City.  Then I've got 2 weeks in Montreal, 1 week in Anaheim (summer training), then back for 1 week in Montreal, then 1 week in Champaign (college training), then back again to Montreal for 1 week for the Bibles for Canada distribution, then finally back to Vancouver at the very end of July.  I'll be sure you keep you all updated here.

These past 4 weeks have gone by incredibly fast.  It's interesting how I am in Canada but in an area that feels completely different from Vancouver.  Why go to Europe when you can come to Quebec?  haha.  I think I've reached a point where I'm not afraid to make mistakes and I feel comfortable speaking French even though I know my pronunciation and grammar is far from perfect.  My problem before was that I was so afraid to make mistakes that I wouldn't even try to speak French.  But really, the only way to learn is to speak, and the more you speak the more gets into you.  I guess this is the same principle with the Word of God.  The more we speak the divine truths, the more it becomes our reality. For example, one verse I've been enjoying recently is Galatians 2:20, which tells us that we are crucified with Christ, and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us.  We must life by this fact that Christ has dealt with our old man on the cross, and now we can live Christ by the indwelling Christ in our Spirit.

So in case if you are wondering what's my typical day like, here's an example.  Every morning I wake up at 6:30 for morning revival.  We have breakfast together at 7:15 then have to catch the bus by 8:00 for class.  Class is every weekday 8:30 - 12:00, then we have workshops or activities in the afternoon.  I usually come home from school by 6:00, then dinner is at 6:30.  We usually chat for awhile and my housemates and I will do the dishes.  Then I start my homework at 9:00 and head to bed around 11:30. The schedule is tight, but I'd rather be busy learning than having too much free time.

And now here are some photos from the past week!  The first photo is with Brother Eric, sister Nadine, his son Etienne and daughter Virginia, and Kristine.  They have really taken care of me these past few weeks.  We have a picnic today and they treated us for ice cream.  I will miss their supply of Christ!

Living room of my abode

Every meal we have 3 courses.  This is an example of one of our appetizers.

Kitchen

My closet

Bed

Where all the studying happens

My housemate Kristine in Congo!

We went on a cruise on the Saint Laurent River Friday night!

Old Quebec skyline

I'm in Quebec and proud of it!

The hotel lights up at night, great for photos.  Chateaux Frontenac, behind me, is the world's most photographed hotel

One of the program coordinators, Alex, et moi before we went on a hike on Saturday

My classmate and good friend Fernando!  He only speaks Spanish and French, so I always get good practice of French with him

Tough hike but worth the view

This coming week will be filled with exams.  And on Thursday night we have a performance night for everyone in our program.  I'll be singing in the choir and for one of my singing workshops.  Also my classmates and I will be doing a small skit based on our program.  Looking forward to it!

I miss you all and keep in touch!!

à mi-chemin marquer! (half way mark!)

I can't believe it but I'm already more than half way through my program here at Laval.  I've pretty much settled in with everything here - the language, culture, weather, people, etc, and I'm learning to appreciate the Lord's sovereign arrangements in all our situations.  Living here is different from any other trips I've had away from home because I'm not around saints all the time.  A few times I would ask myself, what am I doing here?  Or, is this really the Lord's will?  But I've come to realize that the Lord's will is that we would "gain Him" in whatever circumstance we are in (Philippians 3:10).  Yes, I'm here to learn French, but I want my number one priority here to be to experience and enjoy more of the Lord.

Sometimes it can be frustrating learning a language.  One day I tried to speak only French for the entire day, but I eventually gave up after awhile.  It's difficult to express yourself when you're limited to only a few verbs and nouns!!  In terms of learning, I think I've improved more in application of what I already know compared to expanding my vocabulary.  I definitely feel more confident while holding conversations in French.  My goal is to be fluent in French in 5 years (to the point where I would be able to preach the gospel in French) so I don't expect dramatic improvements.  I feel like learning a language is like putting together a puzzle.  It's a process, and the best way to fill the puzzle in is through trial and error.  And when you're able to communicate with native French speakers, they really enjoy it.

Here are some photos of the beach and river close by my place.  This is where I go for runs if the weather is nice and spend time with the Lord, reading His word or singing hymns. 

Poutine!

Laval football stadium > UBC's

Traffic right outside my house

Hike at Cap-Tourmente

Other students

Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré

Exterior

Interior

Charles Konick Building, where I have all my classes

Interesting building at the Laval campus

And thanks for all your comments, I miss you all!  I'm usually online from 9:00pm - 10:30pm Quebec time (6-7:30pm), so look for my on Google chat then if you would like to chat.  Last week I had 4 exams, and this week I'll have another 4, but I'll try my best to keep in touch.