Vieux-Québec / Jacques Cartier Parc / Frère Eric

The days are just flying by.  Almost 2/5 through my program.  We have many outings throughout the week to help us improve our French.  Sometimes I get frustrated with not being able to fully communicate my thoughts and feelings in French, but then I remind myself that I am learning this language for the Lord.  I will do my best to learn, and the rest is up to Him.

And as I've told some of you, at first I found it tough here for my spiritual life, but now I'm learning how to adjust.  I am really fighting for my time with the Lord, especially in the morning.   There's a guitar here so sometimes I'll just sing to the Lord.  I don't have as much free time as I like so sometimes I'll just pray-read some verses and that will supply me.  And I'm learning how to rely on the other members of the Body of Christ (see the bottom photos).

Here are some photos taken from my first week of activities (Don't worry Pa and Ma, the first photo was safe and my feet were almost touching the ground).  The first few photos are in Old Quebec, an area with rich history.  It is one of the oldest founded cities in North America, and served as a fortification base against the Americans in a war that never happened.  The city is right beside the Saint Laurent river and it attracts many tourists.  It reminds me a lot of Paris..

Here is RJ and I, my housemate who also attends UBC.  He is originally from Kingston Ontario but he is in Vancouver for university.  We are at the same level of French so it's easy to communicate with him.

Le Chateaux Fontenac, one of Old Quebec's most famous landmarks.  And its just a hotel!

Last Saturday, we went on a hike to Jacques Cartier Park!  

Moi

Awesome view of mountains and rivers.

One of my classmates took a photo of me sleeping while reading the bible.  Don't worry, this doesn't happen often :) 

My home stay family (which is actually just a single mother, named Jocelyn) cooked us all lobster one night.  Not exactly my favourite but an interesting experience!

Sunset after the hike.

Brother Eric, his wife Nadine, and his son Etienne.  At the left is my other housemate, Katherine, who is learning French in order to move to Africa to preach the gospel.  She needs to reach a certain level of French in order to move there, and afterwards she plans to translate the Bible into some native dialects in Congo where the Bible is not well known.  She attended bible school and did her masters in the Bible in Southern California.  The Lord really answered my prayer by giving me 2 great housemates who are very responsible and serious about learning French.

I joined brother Eric with his brethren church on Lord's day morning and it was an interesting experience.  It was all in French so I didn't understand much, but they actually practice prophesying one by one too.  Afterwards we went over to his house for lunch and we had some good fellowship.  Eric shared with Katherine what God's economy was and I was very impressed.  It seems like he knows it better than I do and he's only been reading the ministry for 2 years.  He also gave her a copy of the NT recovery version with footnotes and explained it.  May the Lord really gain this couple for His heart's desire.  

Et finalement, ici est mon companion Leonard Lan.  Sometimes you don't appreciate something until it is gone.  I am learning that I received so much supply in the church, which is the Body of Christ, in Vancouver, without even realizing it.  

Some recent enjoyment in the Word I have is from Revelation 21:2.  The New Jerusalem as the city of God comes down from heaven as a Bride prepared for her husband.  As the Bride of Christ, we need to love Him for His satisfaction.  As the dwelling place of God, we need to express Christ for His rest.  We don't have to wait until that day to come, but we can live and workout the New Jerusalem today!

I look forward to seeing you all soon, either at the summer training or back in Vancouver.  Please keep in touch and let me know how you are all doing! 

Vous me manquez tous! (I miss you all!)

So this is my first time being away from home AND being away from the saints, and I'll admit that it is not exactly my ideal living situation.  My home stay family is nice, but it's not the same as when I'm with the saints.  I am missing the spiritual supply.

But on the positive side, I will be spending time with brother Eric this Lord's day morning/afternoon.  He is a local Quebecois and he really loves the Lord.  He has been reading brother Lee and Nee's writings and has contacted the saints a few years ago, and since then he is enjoying the ministry and has been in fellowship with the saints in Montreal.  Last year, him and his wife went the winter training and they really enjoyed it.  I'm looking forward to spending time with them!

Here are some photos I grabbed off Facebook.  There will be plenty more to come and I'll be doing a lot of sight seeing.  In the first photo, we are playing some French games which require us to answer basic questions or to give our opinions on subjects.  I've been able to practice my French often and I feel a lot more confident, but I'm still a ways off before being able to preach the gospel in French, which is one of my many goals.  I really enjoy the quality of teaching here.  The professors are great and the students are super friendly and willing to practice French at all times.

Like I said, I really miss you all so please leave some comments or some bits of enjoyment and I will try my best to reply.  A verse I've been enjoying recently in French is John 1:12.  Even though I am far away from the saints and have not been going to meetings, I am still a son of God.  And as a son of God, my Father God is still taking care of all my needs.  He knows what I need to be transformed into a precious stone for His building. 

à bientôt (see you soon!)

C'est bon de revenir (It's good to be back)

It's as if I had never left.  Transitioning back to life in Montreal was very smooth.  It was so easy to jump right into the enjoyment of the Lord with all the saints.  This morning, after having my personal time with the Lord, I found my breakfast made for me.  Thanks bros!  Don't worry Pa and Ma, the saints are taking good care of me.

So I've got one more day in Montreal then I head out for Quebec City.  I found out that the mother of my home stay family was a French teacher before, so that should be a big help in my learning of French.

Below are some photos of Annette, a very cheerful baby at our home meeting yesterday.  She's the sister of Vanya, Koyla, Misha, and Masha, who are a family who migrated to Montreal from Ukraine a few years ago.

And to end, I'll share some recent enjoyment in the Word.  As I went for a run yesterday afternoon, I sat down at a park and the Lord gave me this verse: Ephesians 2:22, “in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.”  I appreciated to see that God's dwelling place is not a physical building, but the mingling of God and man in our spirit.  We need to have an uplifted view of the brothers and sisters, to see that they are God's habitation.  God desires a building, but He cannot gain this if we remain as individual believers.  We must be a group built together by being in our mingled spirit.

  

- Day 3/74

Nouveau chapitre (New chapter)

For the next few months, I'll be back in Quebec to study French.  I'll be leaving tomorrow morning and to be honest I am very excited but at the same time nervous about this whole experience of being in a place where you don't know anyone and can barely speak the language.  I am very determined to improve my French for the Lord's interests, so I'll do my best and the rest is up to Him.  Please keep me in my prayers and I will do likewise for you.  Specifically, pray for my daily pursuit of the Lord while being in a place with no churchlife.  And for the Lord to open up opportunities for the gospel among my classmates and friends that I meet.  I'll also do my best to update you all in my blog, but I may start writing in French :)

Almost Over...

Sadly I only have 8 more days left.  I know I've said this multiple times already, but I am really thankful to the Lord for placing me in Montreal at this point of my life.  My experience here has been so precious.  Over these past four months, I've never felt so nourished, cherished, and supplied from the Lord and all the saints.

The Lord has been showing me more of His heart's desire, which is to gain the church as His Bride, which is also His Body.  In the Body-life, we cannot live as individuals.  We need the vertical fellowship with the Lord, and the horizontal fellowship with all the brothers and sisters.  Our experience of the Lord will be limited as an individual.  But as Ephesians 3:18 says, "may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are."  Our Christ is so vast and immeasurable that we need one another to enter into a deeper and higher experience and enjoyment of Him.  I believe this verse sums up my experience here quite well.  My being immersed into the churchlife and living with the brothers afforded many opportunities to know and love more of this wonderful Christ.

I've finished 2 exams and I have 2 more left.  I'm still studying as hard as I did in Vancouver, but thankfully I'm not as stressed.  The Lord is the best study buddy I can have, and being with the saints in the meetings is one my favourite types of study breaks!!  

I am looking forward to seeing some of you at the winter training and back in Vancouver!!  Enjoy some of my photos:

My last night with Ethan in the brothers' house.  I will miss his piano playing!!
He is also the culprit who started this strange pose. 

A couple weekends ago, I took a bus to Toronto to visit one of my former vital companions, Timothy Chung!  He used to live in the brothers house in Montreal and he had a good reunion with Naifu and Joe through video chat.

My time in Toronto was short but very sweet.  The saints treated me for every meal.  After doing plenty of traveling this year, I wasn't that impressed with the city of Toronto itself..  But what I enjoyed the most about Toronto is being with the saints enjoying the Lord together!

Mayer, Jon, Moi, Timothy, and Mike.  Had a good time blending and fellowshipping with these bros from Toronto.

The following week, Jon decided to visit me in Montreal!  Here he is playing pingpong with some of the young people.  Yes, we have an official pingpong table in our meeting hall :D

Jon actually behaved quite well this weekend.   In Toronto, he spent 4 hours driving me around the city and I learned that he has a soft side.  We had plenty of good fellowship together!!

My spiritual grandparents in Montreal - the Pans!  I'm actually sleeping over at their place tonight because it is closer to campus and I have a final exam tomorrow.  They are so sweet!  Brother Pan is very active for his age.  He still does push ups and he has cooked me many meals this past semester. 

The brothers house invited ourselves to Allan Yeow's place last Lord's day night.  He has a son named Joshua.  Not sure if we should had taught him the Ethan pose..

A good night of fellowship sharing some of our testimonies!

Michelle!!

Frère Acheille!

Weekly love feasts after the Lord's table in Montreal.  17 years and counting.

Babies!

22 Days Left...

Hey everyone!  I have 22 days left in Montreal.  Here's what I've been up to recently:

One of the must-go-places in Montreal.  
Sidney and I took Vincent here for one of our weekly appointments

Loooong line ups to eat in store.   The take out line was a lot
shorter, so we took it to go and ate at Vincent's dorm

One sandwich like this cost $7.
The best sandwich I ever had!!  I had two of them

My sandwich and I with the famous Montreal brother's house pose :)

We bought Vincent a New and Old Testament Recovery version bible.   He was really happy to receive it!  He even asked us to write him a message inside the cover of his bible.  He is growing in the Lord and even asked us to pray for his family's salvation.

Afte eating our sandwiches, we had some sweet fellowship on the Word of God.  We enjoyed 2 Peter 1:21, that no prophesy was ever borne of man, but rather men spoke from God though the Holy Spirit!  And as we take in the Word by means of prayer, we receive God Himself because all scripture is God breathed (2 Tim 3:16).

Brother Achille's super cute 2 year old son named Yohan.  He is from France and only speaks French.  

Aaron and Phoebe's civil marriage!  We're going to miss Aaron in the brothers' house.  He gives us words of wisdom 

I told him to get into this pose

A very happy couple.  They are going to buy a house by the University of Montreal.  May the Lord bless this couple to be useful for His move in Montreal!

One of my favourite meetings in Montreal - the college meetings!! I'm going to miss these..

Joe, Ethan, myself, and Naifu shouting hallelujah!!

Last night together as a whole brothers' house.  Corporate living has taught me so much.  There were lots of opportunities for me to experience the cross :)  

Blending Trip to New York

11 saints from Montreal, 7 students and 4 serving ones.  Many of us testified that what we enjoyed the most in New York was just enjoying the Lord while we were together.  During our sight-seeing day, we stayed in the enjoyment by singing hymns on the streets, preaching the gospel, and reading the ministry book, "The Heavenly Vision."  We came to New York to see the REAL scenery, which is simply Christ and the church.

Beautiful skyline of New York from New Jersey,
which is directly across the Hudson River.
New York's skyline is about 10 times the size of Vancouver's

The same view at nighttime.  Absolutely amazing!
Which one do you like better?

Roommate Joe and I at the Apple Store

Caught a glimpse of the Statue of
Liberty on a ferry ride to Statin Island.
It lights up at night

My spiritual companion/housemate
Naifu and I at Times Square.
This place is always busy, even at 1am.

An almost perfect photo of me in Times Square,
minus a brother who walked in front of the camera :P

Naifu and I with the famous NYPD.
We preached the gospel to a few cops here

Times Sqaure again!  Minus that brother. haha

One point I recently enjoyed from our Morning Revival is that we are becoming the New Jerusalem.  Moreover, we enter into what we enjoy today.  The walls of the city are 'adorned with every precious stone' (Rev. 21:19).  One example of these stones is pearl, which is formed when sand particles lodges in the wound of the oyster, and the oyster secretes its life-juice around the sand to produce pearl.  The oyster represents Christ, who as the living One came into the death waters, and was wounded by our transgressions.  Through His death and resurrection, He could secrete His life over us to make us precious pearls for the building of God's eternal expression.

We must be those like Paul, who aspire to know the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death (Philippians 3:10).  To be produced as precious stones, we have to pass through a tremendous amount of pressure and heat.  This means that when difficult times come, the Lord does not want to take those situations away, but rather He wants to remain in the oyster so that he can secrete His life to us so that we can be transformed.

Midterm season is finally over and I have lots of free time to spend with the saints now.  I've attended the French home meetings/prayer meetings, Chinese home meetings and they have been great times of blending.  I still plan to visit Toronto before I leave to see my old spiritual companion Timothy Chung! 

As for my ankle, it is still swollen and is painful only when I do hard movements, especially jumping.  The doctor looked at my X-rays and found nothing wrong with my bones.  They suggested it could be  partially torn ligaments in my ankle joint, and that I get an MRI done.  Other than that, they said if it doesn't hurt throughout the day I don't need to worry about it and I can still continue with other light exercises.  Perhaps this could be a prayer request for me.  The doctor said it could be another 1-2 months before I am fully healed.  I am not really bothered by it, except for the fact that I really miss playing basketball and tennis.  Instead of playing on Fridays when I planned to, I join the full-timers coordination.

Thanks for reading and I miss you all.  Can't wait to see you all at the training or back in Vancouver :)