the one in which a lot of things happened and then i wrote about them

placemarker post for the time being. i will decorate it with words and so on when i has have the time. see the wonderful labels for a brief taste of things to come.

[REALLY]
i went to the Ishskwaday 08 conference last weekend at TKPC. note to self: try to avoid conferences the weekend before school starts up after a march break holiday because you will be completely thrashed for the rest of the week. there was going to be a writeup with commentary and anecdotes, but who would read that? point-form play-by-play it is!

Friday:

got there early (2:40 pm) for a 7:30 pm start because i was told they needed volunteers and moyee was supposed to be there for worship team practice at 3. way too early.

saw Pastor Rolland for the first time since Longlac, and learned that his name had 2 l's.

so it turned out they had enough volunteers. commence loafing about and developing mental map of church. it is shaped like a Superman crest.

got a name tag. the registration desk was covered in Macbook.

listening to Broken Walls practice their set and struggle through trying to communicate with the AV team. the band was used to AV teams that understood the lingo (EQ, 128 Hz, monitors, drum sample, etc). it was pretty painful for me to watch and hear.

went for a walk. snowballed some geese. hopped a fence and trespassed through a snow-covered schoolyard on closed-circuit camera wearing aforementioned name tag. brazen!

Jaffray attendees arrive, hungover from TC. weird stories and giggling ensues.

program starts and everyone wants to wait for the bus from Longlac to arrive, but they're behind schedule.

speaker is hilariously candid and remarkably learned.

who hates colonialism? everyone.

who knows what colonialism is? i do, thanks to Early American Literature

looks like someone is not a fan of legalism and is not afraid to name names. they're like prescriptive linguists.

Longlac friends arrive!

Justin remembers me: "hey! it's robot man!"

man, they sure love their Koreans. who wouldn't?

Saturday

it's not as early as school, but it is still early. i wonder if i'll survive workshops (3 of them!). i should go pick them.

the first workshop was led by the keynote speaker. more elaboration on why colonialism is not the way to go about evangelizing.

"missions shouldn't be like putting a potted plant into the ground; it should be like planting the seed of the Gospel into the native soil and letting the nutrients of the culture feed the Word and allow it to blossom the way it is supposed to."

you can't have unity without diversity

lunch! settled for McDonald's. played Contact for way too long.

nothing much of note in other workshops, unfortunately

apparently, someone else out there came up with a cracked jar story.

final keynote message: repeat of first workshop. oh yay!

friendship circle dance = longest sideways conga line i've ever participated in

some people danced all night while others stood to watch.

there was a little 6 yr old girl in full regalia gracefully dancing her heart out. she was like a beautiful wind, twirling and flitting about amongst the legs of other dancers.

comfort zone

do you know how rhinos mark their territory? they take a big dump and then kick it to spread it around. people are like rhinos.

i shared this before at the last Aletheia Winter Retreat, coincidentally where i made this sign.

normally, at church/fellowship overnight events (camps, retreats, etc), i don't have to -- how do i put this politely? -- evacuate my colon drop a dookie plug the plumbing shed some weight. this happens without any conscious effort.

for one weekend, my body will instinctively know that there is no comfortable seat to make my deposit, and thus closes up shop. it doesn't matter how many vegetables go in, nothing comes out. walk into my house and i'll shoot for the nearest porcelain.

at Aletheia Winter Retreat, i finally felt comfortable enough to sink some treasure -- in the bathroom with the door that did not lock no less. it wasn't a big deal, just a mild psychological breakthrough. during the campfire sharing time, after most people had done the serious stuff, sharing about loneliness and finding God or whatever, i told them about my catharsis and how it was an indicator of how close to them i felt. i'm not sure they were comfortable enough with me to hear it in such candid terms, but when you're comfortable you can put yourself out there like that without a care.

i knew i was comfortable in Longlac because after the first night, i inaugurated the bowl upstairs. by the second week, we were so comfortable with each other that we didn't mind other people listening in on our symphonies (at least the three guys had no problem with it). dude, some people have rhythm. no duets though (out of courtesy).

carpe aestas

the past two weeks since our return from Longlac has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. we came back with Cheryl, a native from the reserve, because she had a few things to take care of here. as a result, the (young half of the) team has stuck together to take care of her while she's here for the summer. this is not to say that we would've disbanded right away, but i highly doubt the group would've had the opportunity to hang out together so much without a focus.

we go out occasionally for movies, dinners, lunches, just plain sitting down and talking about nothing, or singing. last week we went to bakeries, the mall, Ratatouille, and several dinners. this past monday, we went rock climbing with Art and his rock climbing buddies. today, i went downtown with Dan, Cheryl and Lyris to visit some Native Canadian community centre. we trolled some of the trinket shops in the area as well. tonight we sang, as a team, for Light On A Hill a whole slew of cheesy old songs (the Beatles, Billy Joel, Stand By Me (a capella), etc) and it was like our Longlac jam sessions all over again -- except in public.

i'm glad i actively did not take up a summer job this year because it has given me the time to participate in all these things. i must say, however, that hanging out is quite expensive, especially without an income. but i've already committed my financial worries into God's hands, so it does not worry me that much.

for the last week of August, we will be heading back up to Longlac to take Cheryl home and to visit all the friends we made earlier this summer. the end of summer will bring me crashing back into the reality that is school and blahblahblahs.

early thoughts on Longlac 2007

as a missions trip, my time at Longlac can be neatly categorized into two compartments: the mission and the trip.

the mission portion was an awesome display of the Spirit's power. though we did not personally witness any conversions, the obvious change in the lives of those who accepted Christ last year testified to God's healing presence in them. the plan this year was to continue discipling Raquelle, Duran and Cheryl so that they might grow to become a godly influence on those around them.

the churches that arranged to reach Longlac partnered with a Pentecostal church this year, lead by Pastor Roland. we were given the use of the church to sleep in, as well as hold dinners and worship nights. the pastor, his staff and his family were to observe the teams that came up and how they interacted with the native people the've recently been called to minister to. without any purposeful intention to do so, our relationships, the dinners and worship times all served to bridge the invisible divide between the townspeople (the pastoral staff and congregation) and the natives that sought our company. the relationships fostered will surely aid in the church's ministry to the natives once the summer draws to an end.

a large bulk of my memories from Longlac are from the trip category. any time you go on an excursion with a small group of people, you bond with them in weird and facinating configurations. on the very first night in the town of Longlac, the church threw us a welcoming barbeque cookout with outdoor worship. Lyris, Moyee, Melissa and i quickly engrained ourselves in the congregation's consciousness as "those singing idiots." we sang anything and everything. i have relatively little musical talent, so i belted out melodies to Dan's guitaring while the ladies harmonized; we made a good show of it. this set the tone for the duration of our stay in Longlac.

exercising our immense nerdiness and musical chops, we spent many a night simply singing or noise-making to whatever song Lyris could rustle up on the pinano (it is a pretty hefty repetoire, by the way). inspired by this video we watched prior to leaving for the trip, we decided to sing Pachelbel's Canon in D in four parts. all the singing would've been even better if i knew how to sing bass. i can hit the notes, i just can't figure out which notes to sing unless i'm very very familiar with the song. i've resolved to sit at a pinano and sing intervals in my spare time.

one day we had to go to Rona to gather some supplies. we were looking for a shelf that could serve as a shoe rack. so i sing-songed for a shoe rack. Dan, as a bit of a poke at our incessant singing, said, "why don't you guys sing that in 4-part harmony?" or something to that effect. so i sang "shoe rack" nice and low, and Moyee added "shoe rack" in tenor, and Lyris added "shoe rack" in alto, and Melissa capped it off with "shoe rack" in soprano to form a nice major chord. Pastor Roland, who was with us, cracked up and nearly collapsed with laughter.

there were many more instances of crazy and what not. our team was very fortunate this year to be kindred in the spirit of nerdiness and musicality and humour. i'm sure some of those stories will crop up in a sharing or when we four are in proximity.

this is civilization?

i'm back (sort of). more on this later.

blue skies and blackflies

moreorless packed for Longlac now. it will be a two day (16 hr) drive to about the halfway point between Toronto and Winnepeg, as the crow flies.

couldn't find my sketch pencils (which i haven't used since i sketched a portrait for someone's birthday), so i will have to make do with two HB's, 3 blue pens, 1 Sharpie, 1 yellow highlighter and one mechanical Bic pencil. haven't really sketched or drawn anything for the longest time.

this trip is about reaching out to the children, youth, young adults and old adults of the adjacent native reserve; not to proselytize or thump the Book, but to continue building on the relationships that have been started by previous teams; not to show off how righteous and well-kempt we are, but to understand and empathize with their plights.

this trip is also about taking a good hard look at what is truly important in life, what my purpose for existing is and how i can live to benefit others. i am looking forward to the opportunity the road trip affords to get to know some people better.