During the 16 days that we were in Vancouver, we had many opportunities to minister to the people of inner city Vancouver. This was my first ‘real’ experience of what city living looks like, and I was definitely out of my comfort zone. The organizations/Churches that we had an opportunity to be a part of for our mission’s trip were New Beginnings Fellowship Baptist Church and Potters Place Mission. New Beginnings Fellowship Baptist Church is a ministry for aboriginal people and for the poor who live near the edge of East Hastings Street. We interacted with numerous people who worked at New Beginnings, many who had previously grown up in Vancouver, and thus had a giant heart for the ministry that was taking place there. New Beginnings definitely embraced the outreach aspect of the Church mission, even in the few encounters I had with people that the Church reached out to I was given the picture that New Beginnings truly cares for those it gives aid to. At Potters Place we participated in what was called the H project; a week of being immersed in the broken, hopeless, drug-perpetuated culture of East Hastings Street.
Something thoroughly entertaining that happened while we were in Vancouver was the time when Denver and I were driving through downtown Vancouver, following the 3 ton truck in a van. The driver of the truck was driving much faster than I was confident driving, and he would go through yellow lights quite frequently. One such time was on a left hand turn, he had just turned just before the light turned yellow, and I was intent on following him. So I'm turning, looking forward at the truck, when Denver starts yelling, "GRANDMA GRANDMA GRANDMA!" because this small old Asian lady had just stepped off the curb as we were turning. After we finished driving we looked back at that time with fondness and laughter.
One of my experiences where I was put most out of my comfort zone was when Denver and I were tasked with the job of delivering several beds and couches to a single mother’s apartment. I had to drive the 3-ton delivery truck, which I had next to no experience driving, and then we had to go into a woman(who I had never met)’s house and deliver and build these bunk beds, along with the other furniture. I felt extremely uncertain and apprehensive at the start of the job, but as we chatted with the mom, we got to learn a lot about her; her oldest son had been home sick all day, so this new bunk bed would allow him to sleep in a separate bed as his sister. Also her master bedroom had recently flooded, so the queen-size bed was also a blessing for them. That was only one of my many days worth of experiences at New Beginnings, but the situations that I was able to observe certainly gave me new vision and perspective for people struggling on the east-side of Vancouver.
Pastor Deborah, the founder of Potters Place Mission, had many stories that I found showed how much God was working to keep Potters Place open. When she bought the second building, a small apartment complex over an art gallery, she soon discovered that one of the tenants was a major drug dealer; he never left the building and had several running drugs for him. She prayed about the outcome of the situation, but resolved at every opportunity to take this drug dealer and lay hands on him and pray for him. He eventually got so sick of it that he stormed out of the apartment, and was promptly seized by the police.
The Potters Place experience was very different from that of New Beginnings; it was much more intense in terms of the physical and emotional toll.
When we first arrived we were told, almost word-for-word the same that we learned in class; “Don’t think that you are going to make a difference for the people here. I have been here for 15 years now, and it hasn’t changed.” With that in mind, we were able to act with humility, coming alongside the people who came into Potters Place and simply talking with them. Although someone who has not experienced brokenness might not see what we were doing as extremely affective, it truly had an impact on the people we talked to. Leon, an older man who has worked at the bottle depot next to Potters Place for 15 years, was openly crying as our conversation about God’s spirit continued. I could tell that his heart was in the right place, he knew that he was a sinner and needed God, and that is why he came to Potters Place, “I don’t come here for the food, I don’t need that. I come here for my spirit.” Another older man, Hammond, had a story that gave me insight into some of the homeless people’s situations on East Hastings. Hammond grew up in Iraq, and was enlisted at the army at age 18. He deserted the army after ten months in service, and escaped to Iran as a refugee. After 2 years of living in Iran, he immigrated to Canada, originally staying in Saskatchewan. He has no family in Canada at all, and that realization was incredibly stunning to me, knowing that he had left behind everything he had known in order to come to Canada and start a new life. Even though I was completely shocked at the prevalence of drugs on East Hastings, and the blindness that the authorities show to it, I am glad God gave me the opportunity to see and hear the depth of the drug market for myself. Overall, I believe that the mission’s trip was a beautiful success. I think the effect the trip had will be lasting on everyone who participated.
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