Soar Team Montreal Day 1

Bienvenue/Salut de Montréal, Québec! 
This is the first of many blogposts to come from our Soar Montreal team. 
Each day, a different team member will be sending their thoughts and expressions of our adventures.  Today’s post is from pastor Shawn McKnight.

Our team arrived in Montreal safe and sound, and on time (4:55pm)...thank you Westjet!  We had a little bit of a hectic pace once we arrived at the airport, as there was some immediate language frustration with the fella who was coordinating the transportation from the airport to our accommodations.  He was having trouble understanding that we also had a mother and daughter from Yarrow with us (Meg & Alex Baker)…but it all worked out with a little patience!  John, our shuttle guy, is apparently a newer Christian that really loves the Lord, and is completely passionate about serving Him.  As soon as we landed, we knew things were much different than in Abbotsford, and the more we drove around, got settled into our dorms, and saw some sights…it really is like being in a different country.  The language, architecture, driving habits (cars do not yield right-of-way to pedestrians…even elderly women…as we witnessed!).  This is even more of a reminder that God is much bigger than us and our weaknesses…and that we need to fully trust and rely upon Him to do greater works in us than we could ever imagine!

Our accommodations are located in a school called L’ College De’ Notre Dame…a high school built in 1880, which was originally a monastery.  It is beautiful and very large compared to schools in BC.  It has large wooden doors, oak floors in most hallways, chiselled stone features on the outside, a gorgeous cafeteria with a kitchen big enough for a hotel, and a football field more professional than rotary stadium.  They take their sports and academics pretty seriously here, as it is a private Catholic school (approx. cost is $4000/year) and a landmark in the city, highlighted by the view of the famous Oratoire St. Joseph Church, a pillar flagship of the Roman Catholic Church, right across the street.  It really is beautiful architecture, yet so void of life and relationship with God inside.

Today we were able to sleep in (9am) and had the morning and early afternoon to take in some sights in Old Montreal, and travelled on the Metro (subway).  We went for a tour of the historic Notre Dame Church and Cathedral, and a couple of our team members had some interaction with a woman looking for change for the bus, and she was given a spare Metro ticket we had.  When you say the words “Que Dei te Bienne” (God Bless you!), you certainly get some strange and unflattering looks from people!  The spiritual dynamics in Quebec are very strained (we’ll be learning more in our team training workshop tomorrow), and the church has been reduced to Roman Catholicism stronghold, and a few pockets of evangelical churches.  At current, there are less than 10% evangelical Christians living in the province of Quebec…what a mission field!!  We ended the day with a powerful time of worship in song, a message from Philip Serez (program director) and a prayer commissioning (there has been a team of over 20 people praying every day for us, as individuals, over the past few months…what a covering!)

Tomorrow begins three days of intense on-field training and prayer times, and we’ll also connect with our assignment team members from South Abbotsford Church, Parksville (Vancouver Island) and a team from Southern France!  Starting Monday, we will be working in the area of Terrebonne, which is predominantly Francophone (French-only speaking).  I have been asked by the senior pastor, Patrice Nagant, if I would like to speak to the congregation on Sunday morning, with his assistance translating.  L’Intersection is a three year-old church plant of approx. 70 people, and mostly newer Christians, as well as not-yet Christians!  What an opportunity and challenge!  Please pray that I can actually deliver a message in 20-25 minutes…including translation time…which means it’s really only 12-15 minutes of preaching.  If you know me (Shawn), you’ll know it takes me a few minutes just to say hello!

We do have some cool praise testimonies…in the airport while in between flights in Calgary, I bought our team lunch at Subway.  That is not really note-worthy, but we walked around for about 20 minutes, and then headed back to the Canadian area for Westjet, but forgot our bags were in a locker…so we doubled back around and just as we came around the corner, a woman was walking toward me with her hand stretched out.  She had my credit card in her hand, as I left it at the store, and she was looking all over for us.  If we hadn’t taken that last minute detour, I would not have bumped into her, and would have been fretting some time later when I realized I lost it!  Also, Tessa Sperling left her passport on the plane from Calgary to Montreal…the plane left before she noticed…so we prayed…and contacted Westjet.  They called about an hour later and said they found it and are sending it to Montreal tomorrow.  And today Ryan Baier thought he lost his camera, so we looked all over our dorm and found nothing…checked everywhere…so we prayed, and right after we prayed we found it.  So in little, and not-so-little ways, God is showing Himself faithful and preparing us for a very impacting (in and through us) two weeks here in Montreal.

P.Shawn
Please prayer for;

Þ    health/strength
Þ    team unity (Shawn, Brandie, Ryan, Daniel, Jessica, Tessa, Amelia, Dominique, Meg, Alex, Isabella, Kris)
Þ    effective evangelism & witness…even with a language and spiritual barrier
Þ    strong connection with the local churches and organizations we will be serving
Þ    that the Lord would place us in encounters that we are not prepared for on our own…and that He would work through us
Þ    cultural adjustments and sensitivity
Þ    for humility, passion, and a brokenness for the lost and hurting of Montreal/Terrebonne
Þ    Philip Serez, our Soar director
Þ    Mary-Ev Nagant and Vincent Gamanche (program coordinators)
Þ    The many volunteers, musicians, cooks, drivers that are serving alongside us
Þ    For all the local church pastors, leaders and organizations we are partnering with in their communities

Looking forward to Greater Things Yet Come!

All 4 His Call;