Week Four

We finally left Pinawa, well sort of. Not to take away from the place but a few people were starting to feel the affects of being stuck in a small town for an extended period of time. So, we took to the road and got to Winnipeg to make it for the morning service at the Vineyard church. We had the rest of the day free and a few people were able to visit their families. We ended the evening with a Missions Under Discussion cafe at Canadian Mennonite University and drove back into Pinawa.

Returning to Pinawa we were blessed by a man named Nathan Rieger, who is the pastor of the Vineyard chruch we went to. He spoke to us for two days about idols. Not just the statues and alters of other religions but the things that we're trying to squeeze next to Jesus. If a mantel piece can describe our lives then it is to be Jesus that is above the fireplace and he is not supposed to be sharing that place. One phrase was, "Jesus is Lord, and they're not". Not to say that we are to deny what we enjoy but that we are aware of what we put before God. Nathan explained that idols give us three things. They give us value, they give us power, and they give us a response to pain. The second day of our sessions was my favorite. Nathan got us to sit in a circle and left the floor open to us. He wanted us to share some of the idols in our lives. In the end, about half of us did. It was a surreal experience; one of those things that usually happens between best friends after a tragedy happens, but it happened in a group of 38. People shared significant things and it brought the group closer together.

That was only Tuesday. That afternoon we went back into Winnipeg to do our first urban plunge. The first day was The Amazing Race which involved many parts of the city that even Winnipegers hadn't been to. It put us in close contact with the marginalized people and we gained a lot from the experience. The Thursday and Friday were spent in groups doing different ministry assignments, most of which were labor intensive. It was a contrast to The Amazing Race, which included praying and talking to random people in the street. Some people enjoyed the fact that they just put their heads down and pulled nails for four and a half hours while some didn't. It made us all think about the nature of ministry. Overall, we went into our Thanksgiving weekends with a new perspective on poverty and an awareness of it all around us.
Josh