First Week Happenings

Hard to believe it's been almost a week since arriving in Calgary! I arrived on Monday morning just before noon. From the airport me and another girl on the same flight took a cab to the Rocky Mountain Bible College dorms where we will be living for the next 3 months.
The first 3 days were filled with orientation, training, ice-breakers and of course an "amazing race" to orient us with the city of Calgary. I can't believe how big this city is! It took me an hour to get to work Thursday and an hour and a half to get home because of rush hour. I take the CTrain downtown and take a bus from there to work. That brings me to work. I'm working full time at a daycare in the South of Calgary. It's a small daycare with only about 25 children but it means I get to interact a lot more with my co-workers than I would at a larger daycare. It also means I get to work with every age group which is nice- I especially enjoy working with the toddlers- and I've made some new 3 year old best friends already :) In the afternoons I go to work at the after-school program in a public school just a few blocks away-which means me and my boss work alone, just us 2 and the kids- allowing for some good conversations.
My boss' name is Sharon-She claims to be Christian but is obviously far from God right now or at least pretty confused about having a real relationship with Christ. My first day at work she told me she thought God was calling her to go back to church (after not having gone for 25 years) She also mentioned she wanted to buy an English Bible so she could start reading it again-and asked me to recommend a good translation. Praise the Lord! After one day of work I have already mentioned to each co-worker that I am a Christian here with Power to Change for the summer and have had a spiritual conversation with my Boss about God-with the promise of many more conversations to come. Please pray for Sharon- that we would continue to have great conversations at work and that she would come to know Christ if she doesn't already.
I'm working with a lot of older ladies (all over 5o) which was a challenge at first especially since all of their favorite pastimes seem to be gossiping about our co-workers- it was really hard to love these women when all they seemed to do was talk poorly of others. At first I was really upset and wondered why God would have placed me somewhere with no one else my age and where everyone seems to be so bitter about life. But, today I realized how much God loves these women-and how I am no better or different than them-other than the fact that my sins have been forgiven through Christ's blood because of faith- and as an ambassador of Christ I need to love these women with Christ's love because I'm too sinful to be capable of loving them on my own- a very humbling realization.
And I've also realized that even after only 2 days of working with them, they all seem to be confiding in me and enjoy talking to me -which may not have been the case if they hadn't all been so much older than me. So God has been teaching me a lot these past couple days - How His plans are so much higher than mine (Isaiah 55:9), how incapable I am of being used by God unless I'm filled with the power of his Spirit (Ephesians 3:16-18), and how much God loves his people and desires for them to know him (John 3:16 and many others)

Tomorrow will be our first day of community outreach- which I'm very excited about- we will be partnering with a street ministry called "the mustard seed" downtown which seeks to help the homeless with job searches, meals etc. while sharing Christ's love with them. We will also go out to the city in pairs and ask people if they're interested in talking about Spiritual issues-and hopefully have the chance to share the Gospel with them if they're interested.
We will also have the chance to reach out in different ways that God has laid on our hearts - I believe God is laying families on my heart (oddly right in my field of study, haha). I would love to be able to reach families and children with Christ's love and be able to share the Gospel with parents so that children will be brought up knowing how much God loves them. So, please pray for that, that God would give me wisdom and creativity in how to reach families here most effectively for Him.

So, a lot has been happening in my own heart and in the hearts of the people around me- and all of it only through God's mercy and grace on His creation. If you could, please pray for our outreach opportunities, my co-workers Sharon, Natalie, Irene, Fay and Ruth, and finally as Paul once said to those who supported him as you do me and as recorded in Ephesians 6:19
"Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel..."

Working to bring Christ the Glory,
Blessings,
Emily xoxo