Group Picture

In front of city hall

Lunch at the lake after Booth Industries

Pictures

A Picture of the "Times Square" of Toronto

We drove through this area frequently.

12 people, 1 minivan, 1 Caddy

And this is after our rides got towed.

Praise the Lord we were able to get the cars back within an hour.  We were still to get Greek food and go on the sandwich run!

Thank You

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us on our trip to Toronto!  We hope that you will continue to pray for those that we ministered to and with during the trip.

We arrived back in the states on Good Friday without any problems – praise the Lord!

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Thursday, April 9:

We spent Thursday morning doing Operation Hydration.  In Toronto, more homeless people die each year from dehydration than from hunger; so, we spent Thursday morning handing out water bottles in two local parks frequented by the homeless.  Like the breakfasts and lunches from earlier in the week, the bottles of water served as our ticket to conversation with the recipients.

We spent our last ministry session Thursday afternoon at the Church in the City after school program where we again served Heather and the children.  We were priviledged to participate in Resurrection Eggs, a unique storytelling of the Passion Week that the kids loved!  We also arranged an chocolate Easter egg hunt for all the kids – I think they found all 70+ eggs in under 90 seconds!

Our last night in Toronto was our final challenge where we debriefed and were challenged to apply the lessons we learned in Toronto to Grove City and our own towns.

Thanks again for your prayers!  They were a valuable part of our ministry!

Church in the City Day Two

Wednesday afternoon was spent at the Church in the City after school program.   We had a great time working with the same children that we saw on Tuesday.  We again played games, tutored, and sang songs with the kids.

Wednesday’s feature puppetshow was Daniel in the lion’s den.  After the the tremendous performace, we worked with the students on finishing our memory work for the week, Daniel 6:27 “He rescues and he saved. The Lord works signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth.  Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”  We are excited to review this verse with the students Thursday afternoon.

We also were to meet Heather, the lady who has run the afterschool program and summer camp for the past eight years.  She has an incredible heart to serve and reach these children.  When Jennifer watches Heather with the kids, she wants to be a teacher!

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Wednesday night was our “night off” where we had no scheduled CSM activities.  Our group split up to provide more opportunities.  Jennifer, Wash, and Sam visited the Somali family that Jennifer tutored in the summer.  Others of us went to the Rodger’s Center for a Blue Jay’s baseball game (Pastor Paul from Church in the City provided free tickets for anyone who wanted to go) or spent the evening shopping in China Town.

Booth Industries

We spent Wednesday morning at Booth Industries. a program of the Salvation Army’s that provides work for mentally disabled individuals.  Booth Industries takes great care to ensure that each client has a safe and professional environment where they are part of team accomplishing important work.  The work involved packaging a variety of products, many of which can be found in your local WalMart.  In addition to providing work, Booth Industries provides literacy education, vocational training, and counseling therapy.  The program also likes to develop social skills through fun activities such as picnics, luaus, and Oscar night.

Our priviledge was to help them meet their packaging deadlines on the “workfloor.”  We worked alongside them in assembly lines and enjoy the friendly work atmosphere.  They were so interested in where we were from and what life was like in Grove City, PA.  Some of them loved sports, while others were big into movies; all of them had very endearing personalities.  One member of our group commented that they “loved being in such a happy place!”  It was great to serve Booth Indistries, but when we left, we felt that we were the ones who had been blessed.

Street Walk

We spent Tuesday evening walking in the shoes of a homeless person…literally. We all adopted the persona of a teenage runaway who was escaping from a sexually abusive relationship and was spending his/her first night on the streets of Toronto. Our objective as we walked the streetwalk route in small groups was to figure out where we would sleep, what we would eat (we only had $2.00), how we would make money, how we would get clean, and how we would occupy our minds on the streets. The cold, icy night and our lack of street smarts made the challenge of survival very difficult.

Each group came back with many stories and with sharpened perspectives about life on the streets. The bottom line is that it’s very hard. There are so many factors that are easy to overlook but can be potentially fatal. For instance, in order for a spot to be safe to sleep in, it must have two exits so that you won’t get trapped. Also, security cameras are a runaway’s worst nightmare, but they are very difficult to avoid.

The challenge of finding dinner in the city with $2.00 was fun but difficult. We were fortunate to have two streetwalk guides who used to live out on the streets and shared a lot from their personal experiences to point out important things we might have missed. I think everyone is a little bit more grateful for their bed and their warm place to stay tonight.

To close, we’d like to thank you for your continual prayers. It is an awesome privilege to see God’s fingerprints in the city through the people whom we encounter and the things that we learn. It is a good reminder that these are the people Jesus hung out with, and now we get to hang out with them as well. Mother Teresa once said, “Of course we care about the poor, everyone cares about the poor. But if we really care about the poor, we can name them.” This week is all about learning to “name the poor” and love the poor in Jesus’ name.

p.s. We haven’t been able to post any pictures because Clay’s computer’s card reader will not read the camera cards. The nature of having a four-year-old laptop.

Church in the City

We had an absolute blast with the kids who came for tutoring/Bible story time with the Church and the City Homework Club. The kids are hilarious and awesome! We did everything from playing “Jenga” and “Guess Who?” to working on homework, to singing songs, to giving a Broadway-worthy puppet show production of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Mad props go out to Bethany, Dot, Caroline, and Meggie for putting together an INCREDIBLE puppet show and getting the kids so involved with the story and memory verse (Daniel 6:27). We can’t wait to go back tomorrow and play with the kids again!

Sushi!

Tuesday’s ethnic dining option was one of the biggest out-of-our-comfort-zone breaches yet – we ate sushi!! We went to an award-winning Japanese restaurant and tried salmon and cucumber maki rolls with soy sauce and spicy wasabi. Then out came bento boxes with chicken teriyaki, vegetable tempura, sticky rice, salad, and fruit. To top off the feast, we had red bean ice cream (a very potent vanilla flavor) and green tea ice cream (only one curious soul ventured here). It was a lot of delicious food and everyone was very brave around the raw fish.

S.T.E.P.

Tuesday began when Tara visited us to educate us about S.T.E.P. and the sex trade in Toronto. What she taught us surprised everyone; we learned that the majority of the sex trade does not happen out on the streets with the stereotypical hooker, but rather occurs “indoors” through pimp control, escort services, and strip clubs. It also starts much younger than any of us expected. It was heavy and saddening to learn about such a tragic thing that is so prominent, and yet so hidden. Here are some of the statistics she shared:

-90% of female prostitutes and 94% of male prostitutes were abused as children, with 65%-75% of those people being victims of long-term incest.

- The average age for someone to enter into the sex trade is 13 years old.

- 78% of the women exiting the sex trade reported that they were raped an average of 16 times per year by their pimps and 33 times per year by the Johns. If you do the math, that’s almost one rape per week.

At the end of the session, Tara read us a short autobiography called “All in a Day’s Work,” which is written by a woman who exited the sex trade. In our discussion, some students shared that they were amazed to see how similar the woman’s story was to their own lives. We could all relate to her feelings of being hungry, bored, sad, or frightened. It was sobering and enlightening to put a name and a personality with the concept of prostitution.

One of the main goals of CSM’s ministry is that the students learn that homeless people and prostitutes are PEOPLE who want the same things that everyone wants: to have a home, to feel safe, to be happy, and to be loved.

Here are some websites that provide more information on sex trafficking:

thestep.org

slaverymap.org

notforsalecampaign.org

Tuesday

This morning we will be learning about the Toronto sex trade from Tara, a worker for STEP – Sex Trade Exit Program. Following that, we will be eating lunch at a place called Sushi on Bloor. As the name indicates, we will be sampling sushi, as we experience a bit of Japanese culture.

In the afternoon, we will work for the first time at Church in the City Day Camp. Children come to this program when school ends for the day. In addition to helping them with schoolwork, we will also have the chance to sing songs, read a Bible story, and memorize scripture with the kids!

In the evening, we will experience a streetwalk.

Please pray for:

1. Safety in traveling, especially with the snow fall Toronto received overnight.

2. The homeless who have to stay on the streets, even when it is snowing outside.

3. Opportunities to build relationships and share our faith with the kids at Church in the City Day Camp.

4. Personal growth.