Team VanCooves Update!

Team Vancouver has been very busy the past few days! On Monday, as was the plan, we went and climbed the Chief. Unfortunately, there was awful weather and it was snowing so it would have been impossible to come back down safely so we barely made it a quarter of the way up! We took a detour around and went on the Shannon Falls trail. We saw the most beautiful waterfall and hung out with the greatest kids! Steve climbed to the rocks that were right beside the waterfall with a couple of the guys who are pretty hardcore. The Chief was the highlight of the day for most of us. Jenny and Dotto hung out around the house, did some running around for the house and then when we came back we were back to working on the projects around the house. Gage’s little brother, Nygel, has been hanging out with us a lot lately too. Last night, Nygel came with us on our tour of East Van and it was sweet to hear about the streets from his point of view. It was interesting to see how the streets transformed at night time. Even though we didn’t get out of the car, it was still kind of scary to see the way that the people live. We also have heard many stories of the kids that we have met and it was interesting to see the way that they live or have lived. Yesterday, we also had our first UGM chapel. We had a fun little service planned out, but once we got there we realized how wrong we were in what we had planned. The group that we were talking to were a group of mostly middle aged men who were antsy for welfare day. So, we changed our chapel and made a new chapel plan in about 15 min. The new plan involved Jessica sharing her testimony and she was scared out of her mind. But she shared Psalm 13 with the people and told her story. The men were attentive and they enjoyed the songs that Jenny and Andrew played for them. It was an interesting experience and we are back again on Friday to do another chapel service for them. Yesterday we did more house work! We finished the weeding out front, made a trip to the dump and started painting the upstairs bathroom. We have been on a roll with the housework! We also went and helped in the afternoon with an after school program called “SAY Yes”. We went to Science World with them and then to McDonalds for one of the kid’s birthdays. We had cake and ice cream and came back to the house for dinner. Last night we went to the Friendship Centre and we saw some native dances and heard some native songs. It was good, but none of us really understood what it meant; it was still good to experience though. Gage wants to have some input in this blog; this is what he wants to say… Gage rocks!!!!!!!!! Today we helped with a breakfast at New Beginnings church for homeless people and because it’s the day after welfare day hardly anybody was there. The people that were there though were sweet to talk to. We had the opportunity to just sit with them as they ate and talk with them. Their stories are incredible! Then we came back to the house and had lunch, painted some more and now we are preparing for “SAY Yes” again. We will be sure to post more pictures next time we blog! We want to thank you for all your prayers throughout this week; God has truly blessed us and the people who we have talked to.

Team Vancouver