Check out Unite Canada 24-7-365-2010

The Unite Canada website is up and running- Check it out!!

www.unitecanada2010.com

Unite Canada 24-7-365-2010

Canada has been given some great opportunities for 2010, such as hosting the winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC in February and the G8 Summit in Huntsville, ON in June. During such a strategic time and after ten years of 24-7 Prayer activity in our nation, we think it’s time to act together.

Our hope and dream is to unite Canada in prayer right across the nation, including all generations, denominations, cultures, cities and ministries. Different denominations have completed a year of prayer for their nation (the Salvation Army have in prayed non-stop in many nations) and Canadian cities have united in prayer (7 churches in Regina for 40 days, 32 churches in Victoria for 52 days of non-stop prayer)... But we want to go beyond and unite ministries in every city to PRAY like never before, 24-7-365!

If you’re in Canada and would like to know more about how you can get involved in this unbroken chain of prayer please email me. I am excited to help join together one of the largest prayer chains that will have ever spanned our nation.

I'm back!

I guess when life isn't exciting or easy, blogging is hard... And once you stop, it's hard to start again.

I'M STARTING AGAIN! Not sure where, but I'll just write...

My sister, Kayla and I moved to NDG, just west of the core downtown of Montreal, in early September. We've had our moments of transition but I'd say that overall it has been great.

This is part of Kayla's blog:

"I knew when I came here it would be tough, and there would be moments when I would fall flat on my face... but I didn't expect it all at once and so close to the beginning... In every way possible I feel like I am loosing the Kayla I know and love. I've lost my language, sleep, personality, culture, environment, friends, and most of all the God I know and love. This is a major loss in my life, which I believe I need to grieve and morn, yet, I need to recognize that in the process there is a strange beauty to this situation. It hurts so much to loose something you love but I also KNOW that God has a lot to say about "she who looses her life will find it". I find my flesh crying out for familiar and longing to walk towards what I know and understand, but at the same time I know God is removing things from my life only so He can put something more like him and more beautiful in its place. So for now I just have to wait in that and hope this happens soon."

I love how Kayla took the risk to move here. Her heart has been to just pray and cook for people- she's so hospitable, I love it! But it has also been really hard and stretching for her... I love that even through the hardest of days, she still feels sure that moving to Montreal was the right decision- I think that's God.

kayla works at the Second Cup below our apartment building. A couple days ago I went in with her to visit a friend and one of the regulars called her over. He's from England and I guess in a conversation she mentioned that she loved Marmite but has had a hard time finding it in Canada. He found and bought her a jar. Although she struggles with finding purpose most days, I think the way she interacts with people in our very tight knit community, serves them coffee, cooks, loves on people and goes on prayer walks and runs through our city is making a difference. A BIG difference!

I think we often like to romanticize community which ends up leaving us pretty discouraged. If you look and listen, I think there are little miracles happening every day. I see them in Kayla's life, even though most days she doesn't even see them herself... "Little is much when God's in it."

Kayla's journey to MONTREAL....

A couple months ago I asked one of my best friends to move to Montreal to join me on this crazzzy journey I find myself in... I was on a road trip with Wendy Andrews (24-7 US team) and we got into a conversation about how I often feel alone and discussed what it would look like to grow a 24-7 team up in Canada. I knew in that moment that I needed to seriously ask Kayla to move to Montreal, for real, to join me on this adventure.

From a small town somewhere between Kansas City and Minneapolis I sent Kayla a serious, God inspired text message asking her to pray about moving to Montreal.... She said YES!!

Kayla just started blogging, in preparation to move, and recently wrote this blog about her journey of prayer to Montreal:

So I've been wondering where to start and really the best solution I have come up with is to share my journey (thus far) on prayer.... since after all that's what I'm going to Montreal to do.

So here's a bit of an overview on my last 10 years...

I can remember as far back as the late 90's, when I started my first ever prayer journal. I've always been a big journaler, but I remember a distinct season where my journal consisted entirely of prayers. I was dependant upon it. Another memory I have would be in 2001, went I to Summit Bible College. It was there that I became a member of my first ever prayer group. There were 6 girls, who got together everyday after supper to pray together. This group was a significant group/marker in my life, as I remember getting together with these girls to share my heart and pray. There were people in the group I wouldn't normally hang around with but we were so close we felt lost when a day would go by that we couldn't meet with each other. Then I remember going to Brazil in 2003. While I was there I remember thinking one day near the beginning of my trip, "I didn't realize no one would speak English here, and I'm so staved to talk with someone" but it was there that I learned that God can become our conscience, and what I mean by that is after a while my thoughts became prayers. I got to a point where I couldn't really separate my thoughts from a prayer. God was my friend, and we just hung out together all day. Two weeks into this trip someone came from Canada I think they almost died of talking overload. I talked for an entire afternoon straight! But it was weird the more I had people to talk to, after a while, I just wanted to find space alone so I could be with God in my thoughts. Then, last summer, while I was in Calgary, I worked a place that was a 45 min walk from my house. The walk seemed long at the beginning, but soon my walks became prayer walks, and soon I got to a place where I was wishing the walks were longer. I would get to work everyday in tears, just so in love with God. Then last September I remember being in a place of brokenness, I remember being at the end of Kayla, and feeling so lost for answers in life. I journalled a lot, but every time I did I found there were more and more question with no answers to those questions. It was there that I declared myself in a "season of prayer", because there was nothing else I could do. God reduced me to this point, and at the time I thought it sucked, but I realise now that He was doing something. At Thanksgiving I met up with my friend Daria (whom you will hear a lot about in this blog so remember that name) and I told her about my "season" and she said she was in that same place. So we decided to pray together on the phone. With honest efforts, we have been doing this since (although when she's on the road its more difficult) little did I know that God was doing all this for a bigger purpose. Daria is one of the girls I prayed with daily at summit, and now for the last year holding each other up in prayer, and now I am moving to Montreal to live with her and start this prayer community. Funny how God works!

God has sewed prayer into my life through certain events and seasons, and he is continuing to do so. Prayer isn't the answer to all of life's problems, but God is! Prayer is the gift we have been given to commune with God, to join his rhythms, and to see his face.

SOAR MONTREAL- 1 week of 24-7 in 4 environments.

It's been an exhausting but great week here in Montreal. Last Wednesday over 200 youth showed up in Montreal to "shine" in our city. They spent the first few days in orientation, learning about the city and getting to know each other. Then Sunday night began a full week of prayer and mission- it has been amazing!

We've been praying 24-7 in 4 different environments since Sunday night. The first time I've ever done something like this but we needed to find a solution to not have access to the main prayer room at night and all the students going out on mission during the day. The schedule is pretty colorful but we're managing to keep the prayer going all day and night!

Saturday afternoon I did two workshops on prayer and in each one we set up a prayer room: one on the guys floor and another on the girls floor for them to take turns praying through the night. Then Sunday, I set up the prayer van which has been at different mission assignments all week. I had no idea how it would work, but 5 days in, it actually seems to be working!

I was just walking over to Second Cup to write this blog and a couple guys stopped me to share their prayer room experience. They said that they've experienced God in an amazing way through these prayer rooms this week- One of the youth even said that he goes up to the all guys-all night prayer room during the day when he needs some quite time away. Many people are asking for more info on how to start a prayer room back home.

The prayer van has also been great. We've printed cards in french and english that say, "How can we pray for you" with space for people to write requests. Most teams have had the opportunity to 'prayer card' in the area they're serving and pray right in the community for all that is going on.

Overall, it's been an amazing week of God doing amazing things through prayer. Love it!

Even Strippers Pray..... My Dream for Montreal.

I need to be up in a few hours to drive to Ottawa but can't sleep...

I just had an amazing night.... I could write until the sun rises, but for now, I'll just write about what impacted me most. I went to Montreal's biggest, best and most known strip club tonight. One of my best friends used to be a dancer at this club around nine years ago and has been a Christian now for two years- amazing girl with an amazing heart who is totally willing to help and support me in getting to Know Montreal's sex industry. We've been praying about this for months, have even prayed outside a strip club and felt tonight that we were ready to go in (unless God said otherwise and stopped us).

We reconnected with Sabrina, one of her old friends who is still dancing there nine years later. Toward the end of the conversation we asked if she needed anything or if there was anything we could pray for her... after giving us a couple prayer requests she proceeded to tell us that she prayed every night. You know when you have those lightbulb moments... I had one and now I can't stop thinking about it.

This is my dream:

Even strippers pray and are seeking spirituality. What if we had a 24-7 place of prayer in the heart of the city? This place would be open around the clock to welcome busy city people to just come pray, be still and connect with God at any hour of the day. It would be creative, artistic and full of authentic and fun community to just be there or play music, paint, pray with people, answer questions, have a meaningful conversation... A place where we could invite people, like Sabrina, back to pray if she needed some space or someone to chat with. Our generation is deeply spiritual, especially in Quebec where we've grown up in a post-catholic, extremely secular culture with very minimal religion... People are open to prayer and God... Maybe people just need a little support and prayer at times to keep walking in the right direction...

So God, I pray for this dream.... that you would prepare us for it and bring it on!!

Catching up...

I do appologize, I've sucked at blogging the past month. Time to get serious again!

I don't even know where to start now...

I need to start by writing a blog about BC, which was amazing... So many stories to tell. Overall, I loved the unity happening there and the amount of stuff starting- some really passionate people with a hunger for more- so good!

I write this from Starbucks in St. Catherine's, Ontario. I've been wondering around Ontario all week. We had our Ontario regional gathering last weekend which went really well. I'm trying to teach myself how to video-blog so my plan is to video-blog this week... we'll see how that goes!

Last night I met with a couple girls involved with STEP (Sex Trade Exit Program) downtown Toronto. Crazy, I actually know the founder of the program from school- small world! They have a cafe on Thursday nights for sex workers from 9pm-3:30am, it inspired my dreams for Montreal!

Going to hang out with the Jones family tonight in NOTL and Brantford this weekend. Tomorrow I have a wedding and Sunday I'll be at Freedom House in Brantford, the City of God. Looking forward to this weekend!

Come join me in MONTREAL!!

Interested in learning more about urban ministry, intern with 24-7 Prayer and live in a bilingual city-community in one of the most un-reached places of North America?!

This year we're starting a new partnership with the YWAM Urban Cultures DTS in Montreal so you could come learn all the awesome stuff YWAM teaches and intern with a developing 24-7 team in Montreal.

For more info contact Daria at daria.tomiuk24-7prayercom

A little more on the program:

URBAN CULTURES is a totally new and unique school offered at Youth With A Mission in Montreal. This school is being developped with several objectives in mind. First of all, we want to give students the time to be involved in practical ways and over a prolonged period of time in various ministries and community organizations operating in the city. The second is to give them the time to discover and understand the city (with Montreal as a laboratory), its’ identity, its’ culture, the ways in which it functions and to learn how best to serve it. The third objective is to permit students to better grasp and integrate the teaching of the DTS (instead of twelve weeks of intensive classes, the courses will be spread out over nine months).

URBAN CULTURES is a training school that wants to be relevant and practical at the same time. It’s founded on the principle of incarnation. It’s designed to give students the needed time to get involved body, soul and spirit in the life of the city. We hope to train people who will, at the end of the school, will have the know-how to initiate new ministries here in Montreal or elsewhere in the world with YWAM, their church or other missionary organizations.

URBAN CULTURES offers each student the possibility of choosing one or two internships in which to commit themselves for either a part of or the duration of the school. These internships will be developped with YWAM staff or in partnership with other city ministries with whom we have close relationships. Consult the list of internships.

52 Days of non-stop prayer in Victoria, BC.

Just arrived on Vancouver Island this afternoon and heard about the 52 days of prayer that just ended yesterday in Victoria, BC. It Sounds like it was an amazing and transforming time of city wide prayer, with 32 churches involved in the Greater Victoria area- Amazing! Click on this article for the story.

Thoughts from a morning run...

Running is one of my favourite times of prayer. Running has become especially important to me as I travel for two reasons: sometimes it's the only solitude time I get with God all day AND most people feed me so well while I travel that if I didn't run, my clothes wouldn't fit me anymore!

Being in BC this past week, running has been great. It's amazing to be in cities yet running a sea wall or looking at mountains. The Rooke family, in their wonderful hospitality, has been feeding me way to well so I've especially needed to run this week!

A few days ago Nathan showed me the run that he does, which ends going up a huge hill, so I tried it yesterday. Last night when I was going to bed I realized that the back of my neck killed, it's a strange and unique pain, one that I don't feel often if ever. When I did the run again this morning I figured out where the pain was coming from. As I ran up the big hill yesterday and looked up the whole time it totally strained my neck.

I remembered that on my run yesterday I spent the whole time looking up the hill for the end, I guess I thought it would come faster that way! This morning I tried looking straight ahead, at each side walk block and not only was it faster and easier but it also didn't completely strain my neck.

Moral of the story- I think when we're going through a difficult time, running up one of life's 'big hills', we need not try to look so far ahead for the clarity of when it could end- that's straining! Instead we need to look straight ahead, move step by step, day by day and TRUST in the hope that the end will come... and we're going to get there...

Picture: A little over half way up the hill...

Another ALL NIGHT prayer meeting in TORONTO is happening TONIGHT!!

I met Timothy Samuel a couple weeks ago at the MoveIn Conference, he was one of the people who stayed up all night in the prayer truck. The next morning I was so inspired by his story that I asked him to write about it so I could post it here- so he did. It was such a life changing experience for this group that they're actually meeting again tonight, right now as I type this, in Toronto to pray ALL NIGHT-again. Amazing!! They didn't even know each other until this night of prayer in the UHAUL and are actually from all different cities: Scarborough, Kingston, London and I think Cambridge... I'm excited to see and hear about what God continues to do through their fervent prayers together.


Last Friday night was one of the most powerful nights of my life. I was at The People’s Church in Toronto for the “Move-In” Conference – a two day event for young people exploring the idea of moving into high-needs neighbourhoods to see the kingdom of God break forth. It was emphasized that prayer needed to be the dominant force of this movement so a U-haul truck was set up in the parking lot and converted into a make-shift 24 hour prayer room for the weekend. After the first worship service on the Friday night, which saw the six-seven hundred of us present drop to our knees together in repentance, all I wanted to do was pray.

Around 11 pm, with my Bible in hand, I made my way to the prayer truck and was surprised to see five or six other young people already there meeting with God. I climbed in to join them and grabbed a spot along the right side with a blanket. The inside walls of the truck were covered with written prayers, Bible verses, and pictures of the neighbourhoods in Toronto that prayer teams would be moving into. As I began to posture my heart towards God to enter into prayer, I listened to the heartfelt petitions of those surrounding me, and quickly realised I was in the company of sincere lovers of Jesus. Within a very short time of being in the U-haul, I was so stirred by their passionate cries I knew that I would not be getting much sleep tonight. Opening my Bible before me, I knelt before the Lord and dove into prayer with my new friends. Soon after, two more brothers entered the truck, and now there were seven of us. The presence of God was heavy and all of us became gripped with a spirit of prayer. We cried out to God for His Spirit to be poured out on the city of Toronto and on our nation Canada; for our generation to turn their hearts back to God; for revival on our university campuses; for the “Move-In” teams and their neighbourhoods; for God to impart His love into our hearts; for human trafficking to end; for Jesus Christ to be revealed; for the salvation of the aboriginal peoples of Canada and for many more things that were placed on our hearts. Having a guitar and flute at hand, we also took time to worship the Lord in song together as we continued to pray. During our night watch, there were moments of tears, as when one sister began weeping over the suffering of Jesus, as well as moments of lightheartedness, in which we laughed together and celebrated Christ’s victory and simply the joy of prayer.

Around 4 am we decided to pray over each person in the prayer truck and I eagerly jumped into the middle to receive some of the fire that these warriors had. Being able to speak into each other’s lives was one of the most awesome experiences of the whole night, as each one of us had specific things confirmed about the call of God on our lives. The rising sun at 6 am brought with it the next prayer team, and after joining them for a few minutes, the seven of us climbed out of the truck to greet Saturday morning.

I can honestly say I’ve never experienced anything like the seven hours I spent in that U-haul. I had only known one brother in the group, and now I felt a deep connection had been formed between the rest of us. Almost beyond anyone else in my life, they knew the deepest things of my heart as we spent the night pouring ourselves out together before the Lord. Having our very friendship birthed from prayer, we ended up going on two more prayer walks together on Saturday. We all had a strong sense that something had been established that night between us and God and we were drawn to each other for the rest of the conference. I’m excited to see where God is going to take us as we draw near to Him together, and we’ve already planned to meet up next week Friday for another night watch to cry out for our generation. PRAISE GOD FOR PRAYER!!!

You can't take a Uhaul to Heaven, but you can bring Heaven into a Uhaul...

I had an amazing time last weekend at the Toronto MoveIn conference. Inspired by the 24hr prayer truck The Westside Gathering parked at a gas station in Montreal this past November, we hosted 72hrs- 3 days of non-stop prayer, it was unbelievable! There were around 600-700 young adults at the conference on Friday night being challenged to get real with God, love their neighbour and even move into a 'less-reached' or 'high-risk' neighbourhood in their city or across Canada. You could read more about how God is moving through MoveIn at www.movein.to

There was a group of around 10-15 people who started praying in the Uhaul at 11pm Friday night and didn't leave until 7am the next morning because God's presence was strong- the stories I heard the next morning were amazing. Hopefully I'll get to post some soon. One girl who spent the night in the truck recently wrote on my facebook wall, “I'm still in awe over Friday night.” Some people told me the next morning that they had never experienced God like that before and that it was a life changing faith experience to pray through the night like that with a group of people. Wow!

I've recently been feeling like it's important for me to travel with people as often as I can- how better to learn how to lead a prayer room than to just come do it with me? And it's wonderful to have someone to talk to on the long drives! My friend Steph, who's been wanting to lead a prayer room at her church for a while, came from Montreal to help me. It was a great experience and blessing for me to have her there. The quote below is what she changed her facebook status to as soon as I dropped her off... And she continues, even one week later, to walk in what God has been speaking to her. It's amazing to watch God work in and through her like this-

"Can not believe the amazing weekend I just had.. what?? renewal?? oh yah.. in the back of a U HAUL and many sleepless nights... God found me again”

As the MoveIn Lead Coordinator reflected on the prayer that happened that weekend, this is what he wrote:

"God did incredible things at the MoveIn conference, and we believe it was primarily because of prayer, of God's grace released through the heartfelt yet feeble cries of the many ordinary people who prayed - mostly in Toronto, but several from other parts of the country and world. As well as a pray-from-anywhere '12 days of (continuous) prayer' we organized, the onsite 'prayer truck' that 24-7 Prayer Canada hosted was indispensable. The team that put it together did an incredible job--all on a shoe-string budget--of covering every square foot of the 17' Uhaul's inside walls with prayer fodder: photographs of high-needs neighbourhoods, verses of Scripture, banners, and more.

The prayer truck hosted three days--72 hours--of continuous onsite prayer. The team didn't know who would fill the hours, but there was always someone, usually a group of people, at times more than a dozen, calling out to God - sometimes loudly, sometimes in a whisper, sometimes not even that. We believe He heard and answered our prayers, and we can't wait to see how He will continue to do that--in the days, weeks and years ahead--through the people who left the conference changed, and through the lives of those who 'move in' to some of Canada's less-reached neighbourhoods."

God is up to something in our generation... It's awesome to be a part of it!

'U-Haul- We Pray' is Heading to the Toronto MoveIn Conference: May 7-10

Some of you may remember, this past November we set up a U-Haul at an Esso station for 24 hours to pray for Montreal (you could refresh your memory here: http://www.24-7prayer.com/content/940). This coming weekend, starting Thursday evening, we'll be doing the same thing, this time for 3 days in Toronto!

When I heard the heart and vision of MoveIn, a little over a month ago, it became an evident partnership that 24-7 Prayer wanted to support... We have a very similar heart for prayer, mission and how to reach our cities. I've copied the vision of MoveIn below for you to read. You could also find more info at www.movein.to

We're hoping for around 2000 young people (19-29) at People's Church from Toronto, Ottawa and beyond on Friday night to hear the vision and be challenged. Saturday will be geared towards those seriously considering taking the 'MoveIn' step themselves. 12 days of off-site 24-7 prayer surrounding the conference started May 1st, but we're also doing 3 days of prayer ONSITE, in the People's Church parking lot, to cover this weekend in loads of crazy prayer and give space for people attending to also go pray through how God is speaking to them. The prayer truck theme will be to pray down God's Kingdom in our cities- There are around 40 profiled communities to pray through as well as many other things to inspire your 1hr prayer shift in our 3 day U-Haul sacred space...

If you're from the Toronto area (or not and want to come anyway), PLEASE come join me!!! There are still many slots to fill and we need all the onsite prayer support we could get. I'm also looking for some 'mother/father/mentor' type people to be there praying for and with our generation as we learn to rise up to the call of Christ in our cities.

Please email me for more info or to sign up for your shift in the prayer truck.
Daria.tomiuk@24-7prayer.com


The MoveIn Vision:

John 1:14 says, “The Word [Jesus] became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Or, as The Message paraphrases it, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”

MoveIn is about copying Jesus’ example (Phil. 2:5-7) by literally moving in to the neighbourhood.
We have discovered that something amazing happens when a group of Christians intentionally moves into a neighbourhood to pray (Acts 1:14) and be. In doing so, they have chosen to become part of the neighbourhood. Rather than visiting or serving and then going away, they will share in their neighbourhood’s joys (Rom. 12:15), and in its troubles (Rom. 8:17); and they will have an opportunity to be right in there as salt (Matt. 5:13) and light (Matt 5:14) - as the hands and feet of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27; Matt. 25:35-40) - with a cup of cold water in one hand (Mark 9:41) and the good news (Isa. 52:7) in the other.

We are encouraging all young Christians to ask themselves to move where they move on purpose and to challenge their default motivations.  Sadly, it seems to have become the norm for Christians to move into a neighbourhood not because of the need or because of a calling to reach it, but because it is convenient. Furthermore, neighbourhoods that are inconvenient or unsafe are avoided.

It is time for Christians to move into neighbourhoods because they are not safe - to move into neighbourhoods that are messy and have high crime rates, high poverty rates, low standards of living, and a disproportionate representation of Christ.
“It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.” Paul, Romans 15:20
It is also time for those who move into suburbs and other lower-needs neighbourhoods to do so on purpose - prayerfully, seriously, communally.

As we ‘move in’, we pray also that we would be part of the fulfillment of the prayer for more people to go where the “labourers are few” but the “harvest is plentiful” (Matt. 9:37) on the other side of the world - where people have never heard of Jesus, and where–in some cases–they live in slums and sleep in refuse that is physical, economic, social, emotional, environmental, or spiritual in nature.

We are moving in because Christ did it first (Eph. 5:1). We are praying for big things because we serve a big God (Psalm 8). We are confident that He will go before us (Isa. 45:2), that he will never leave us (Heb. 13:5-6), and that he will be with us right to the end (Matt 28:20). Through prayer and action, we pray that those we live among will experience Christ’s love themselves in a life-changing, life-giving, totally contagious kind of way (John 10:10) - for God’s glory.

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9

Cuba, Sex and Prayer...

I just got home from an amazing week in Havana, Cuba. Cindy, one of my best friends, got married this past Wednesday to Joel, a cuban man. I met Cindy a little over a year ago at my church, she was a new Christian, totally excited about God and so hungry to grow in her faith... it was an instant connection when we met, her new found really authentic faith inspired me a lot.

With her desire to learn more about prayer, I gave her Red Moon Rising for her 30th birthday... she loved it and loved the idea of 24-7 Prayer. Cindy and I have spent A LOT of time together this past year and I'm soooo thankful that God placed her in my life- she has taught me heaps and has been an amazing friend. This past November, while organizing my first ever fundraiser, with a lot of her help, she told me that she felt her role right now was just to be my encourager (which she totally had been).... what a blessing. I said, “so you're kindof like my Barnabas” (who was the apostle Paul's encourager)... she wasn't sure who he was so she looked him up. As I've been travelling she's been writing me encouraging letters and signs off, “Love, Barny”. Cindy is amazing.

So all that to say, financially, it probably wasn't the wisest decision for me to go to Cuba to be part of her wedding, but what's $850 when someone so dear to me is getting married- it was worth every penny to be there on her special day.
Cindy knew that the small group of us attending her wedding didn't have a lot of money to spend so she searched around and recommended an affordable 3 star all inclusive. A 5 star in Cuba is a 3 star in Canada, so you could imagine... My friend Jenn came with me and we agreed that the only important thing is that there's a nice beach and NO bugs, like cockroaches, in our room... that would be the only thing we couldn't handle... We had a bug free week and amazing few days relaxing on the beach.

I was caught by surprise by a couple other things happening at the hotel though. We quickly discovered that this hotel was a hook up place for homosexuals and prostitution. Observing some of the men, it was obvious that they had never met before, probably met online, and had this random sexual incounter week. And the prostituion- wow... this was the part that enraged me. I almost did something stupid a few times... and if I wasn't in Cuba I'm pretty sure I would have been beaten up by a pimp... I guess I'm learning.

There was a 'chika' hanging around the hotel all week with this really awkward man. Jenn and I were friendly with her, I felt bad for the guy, he was pretty strange... The second to last night we were there two more older men joined him, one was wearing a wedding ring, all three of them brough prostitutes into the hotel that night. One of the animators at the hotel was the pimp and arranged it all, the last night we even watched him sneak the prostitutes in since there was a big 'higher end' group in that night... we saw it all and it made me sick. At dinner they sat at the table next to us and I can't even explain the anger that took over my body- serioiusly, I wanted to punch them, thought about dumping my water on them, throwing food in their face... I had wished they spoke english so I could tell them off. I was angry, to say the least... These girls were like 22 and they were like 65 and married! Then I felt bad being so angry telling myself that I need to chill out- someone at my table reminded me that “we should love them because Jesus does”, that was the last thing I wanted to hear but they were right... but I still had absolutely no love and felt even more guilty for being angry... In my attempt to cool down I went to get some dessert, which often helps! As I stood up to walk to the dessert table, I gave them all really dirty looks, which they didn't even notice because they were too busy undressing me with their eyes to even see my face- this obviously enraged me even more... really, I wanted to scream.

Then God in his mercy spoke to me at the dessert table, “Daria, it's ok to have 'rightious anger', that's my heart for justice that I've given you, but act wisely and in love”... Ha, oh yeah, God gets angry too when injustice is happening- I think He actually hates it more than I do - and his blood would probably boil like mine (and then it would forgive them!)- So what do I do now?? If I was in Canada I may have just walked over and turned their table (since Jesus did that!) instead of punching and trying to hurt them, but I didn't want to risk not making it back home... Sortof just kidding there... but in times like this is when I think we need to pray most. God has called us all to act justly and has put different things on our hearts to pray for and change and he just reminded me these past few days of one of the places he has called me to act justly and make a difference. He is teaching me though that I can't act in my own anger which is why I need to pray loads through this and he'll show me how I can make the biggest difference.

I've had a heart for the sex industry for years but have felt the need to wait before making a big move. This all just happened a few days ago, which for me was God telling me that I need to be praying more as he's opening my eyes to more. This morning at church my friend Sue gave me an article that was published on Friday in the Montreal Gazette about the sex inudstry. Its mind boggling for me to read some of this stuff: 70% of men in Japan and 39% of men in Spain say that they have paid for sex... and the stories... wow! God, what do I/we do to change this sick, abusive and fast growing industry?!? That's my prayer tonight....


Article link: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/dangerous+trade+women+children/1528341/story.html

MoveIn

This is amazing!!

Marrying prayer with community and mission is changing our cities, nation and world. God is doing an amazing thing through MoveIn.

Check this out:

MoveIn.to CONFERENCE

Friday May 8, 2009
Come early (6:30pm) for refreshments. A BIG night: worship, visioncasting, challenge, multimedia, free books, and amazing stories.

Saturday May 9, 2009
9am-5:30pm
For those considering “moving in.” Exploring the possibilities. Free. Speical guest speaker, break-out groups, pizza lunch, city wide target-neighborhood tours, life-redirecting connections... possibly one of the biggest days of your life.

QUESTIONS: contact@movein.to

MoveIn is something God is doing where praying teams of Christians are moving into some of the most broken neighbourhoods in Toronto and beyond.

We'll be praying 24-7 before, during and after the conference. I'll be there... hope to see you there too!

Www.movein.to

Toronto- Canada's Biggest City

lived in Toronto for a couple years during my under grad so it was great to be back and to connect more with what's going on in the city. I love how cross-cultural Toronto is, it actually has one of the highest populations of foreign born people in the world. I still remember the culture shock when I moved there, where I lived most people's first language wasn't English and I think that's the case in most of Toronto. I still remember studying by a ravine with my boyfriend at the time observing that not one person who walked/biked/roller-bladed by us spoke English... And I thought French was hard enough to keep up with! I really love and appreciate the cultural diversity in Toronto.

I had a really busy week and met tons of amazing people while I was there.

Matthew Gibbins (IVCF/Urbana 2009)- What a heart this man has. I spent a couple days with him and got to meet his wife as well who was also a delight. He introduced me many people. He's great at connecting people for Kingdom stuff with such a heart to see change in this emerging generation. It was a real joy to spend time getting to know him.

MoveIn: Matthew introduced me to the founder of MoveIn (www.movein.to). This new movement is amazing. The whole idea of marrying prayer with mission and community living is brilliant and changing our world, I think. They're having a conference in Toronto May 8-9.

Ruth Copland (IVCF national prayer director): Chris (our 24-7 team leader), Matthew, Ruth and I had a great lunch to discuss prayer on campuses and Urbana.

Lausanne Movement: Chris and I also met with the Canadian board of the Lausanne Movement, all about “the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world” (www.lausanne.org). They're planning Cape Town 2010- The third Lausanne congress on world evangelization. Really great organization... we shared our 24-7 vision and dream for Canada and asked them if we could help serve them in anyway.

Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC): I spent almost a full day at the EFC office in Toronto meeting with a number of great people. (www.evangelicalfellowship.ca)

On Wednesday I got to be part of an hour and half conference call with prayer leaders from across our nation. It was amazing to hear what's going on across Canada and the common call to cities. It was the first call they've done like this in a while but everyone felt like we need to continue this kind of communication to better pray for each other and hear God's heart for our nation. Amazing!

Before I came home I met with a couple girls about doing a prayer room at the MoveIn conference in May. There is 12 days of prayer in the works but 3 of them will actually be onsite happening 24-7. I believe so strongly in their vision and what they want to accomplish, it's a real joy to be able to support and work with them in this fast growing, incredible initiative.

Brantford- The CIty of God

This is coming a little late, it's been a busy week! I left Brantford on Sunday afternoon after an amazing 6 days. Freedom House, a downtown church in Brantford, started a week of 24-7 Prayer the day before I arrived. I took four 6am or 7am shifts that week, which by the end was exhausting but so needed in my life. One of my favourite parts of 24-7 prayer weeks is the way it challenges me and helps me discipline myself to pray more. After a few weeks of travelling, making that space in my life was just what I needed!

I spent the first half of the week with Dave and Krissy and the second half with Nicki and Steve... and all their kids! As you've probably already sensed from my birthday story, the people in Brantford were so welcoming and hospitable. On Sunday at church (my last day there) Dave did a little interview with me, they prayed for me and then took up a love offering- I totally didn't expect that. The people I'm meeting on this trip have certainly surpassed all my expectations.

Dave (24-7 Ontario team leader) and Brian (the pastor of Freedom House) are on our 24-7 Base team so I've had the chance to get to know them a bit better the past few months. I remember the first time they referred to Brantford as “The City of God”, I didn't understand what they meant, I had never been to Brantford before. I actually wondered if that's what the sign said as you drove into the city. Then we would always just refer to Brantford as 'The City of God” ... This is the story... About 10 years ago a number of people decided that they wanted to see their city transformed – they wanted to pray God's Kingdom down to Brantford. Most people I met when I was there would also refer to Brantford as the City of God. I love the way that belief and hope for change has spread! And God is transforming Brantford, no doubt!

Dave gave me tour the day I drove in, he showed me where their church used to be and a few different parts of downtown. The church still owns their run-down church building but was approved and has received funding to turn the church into low income housing. Now the church currently meets in a downtown mall, they actually have a coffee house store front- it's amazing! One part of downtown is super sketchy, it's on the main street and is basically just a large area of completely run down housing that the owner wont fix up. I think it was the city or university that recently bought the land and plan to build a big community centre. Maybe the people living there now could move into the churches low-income housing, that would be awesome. It's amazing to see how the city is changing, it's cleaning up, people are doing something about the problems (including the church). The churches also seem to be starting to work together. This prayer room was advertised to churches and even to the community in the news paper. They didn't want to make their prayer room a Freedom House thing, they wanted to serve the community by giving them a place to pray and praying for people. I learned a lot from the Freedom House community on urban ministry, they get it! They believe that God can transform their city and he is, it was amazing to see. Keep on Freedom House!

While in Brantford I also got to connect with a few other “24-7 Prayer people”. As wonderful as email is, meeting someone in person is so much better. The Wednesday afternoon Matt and Don from Hamilton came to Brantford to hang out with me and check out the prayer room. They just lead a week of prayer at their church which also went really well. On Friday Jim from Guelph came to Brantford too, Jim is leading his first week of non-stop prayer at the end of May.


This is a picture of the mall that the church is in (I spent many hours in that Williams):

My Birthday, Brock University and a New MacBook

My mom emailed me yesterday wondering if I was still alive because I hadn't blogged since April 1 – Sorry Mom! It's been busy... and I find when I'm with people making time to be on my computer is hard. I love living in the moment! The hard part now is that there is so much to tell that I don't even know where to start.

How about this, I'm writing my first blog on my new computer!! So it's true, when you ask you receive! We had our 24-7 Base team meeting on Saturday morning and Chris and Catherine showed up with a new Mac Book for me that was anonymously donated. Wow!! It only took 3 days... Man, God is good and so are anonymous donors! Thanks so much, it will go to good use.

Brantford was awesome, I'm going to write a blog all about Brantford next so stay tuned. They did a great job of making me feel loved on my birthday. When I got back to Dave and Krissy for dinner that night the kids had decorated the house with balloons, a big “Happy Birthday” sign, made me cards and a delicious chocolate cake. Then we went to the prayer room for their Wednesday night bible study/prayer meeting. At the end all the youth and kids came together in the room to pray and Dave announced it was my birthday. He had about 40 kids and youth pray over me, it was awesome. Then I went out to East side Mario's with a group of about 10. It was a great Birthday in Brantford.



On Friday night I went to the Brock Christian Fellowship year end banquet. I spoke there a couple months ago before they did their week of prayer so they invited me back for the banquet. It was awesome to walk into a church covered foyer with prayer room walls posted up all over. They did a one week prayer room both semesters this past year. Below is a picture of Sonia and I in front of one of the walls, the Brock prayer room was in Sonia's basement.

Happy Birthday to ME!!

So I decided today that I’m giving up and going home… this is all too hard… I’m homesick.

Just Kidding!! April fools! Haha. I am a little homesick but am having a great time meeting all kinds of people.

What is true is that I’m 26 today!! Woohoo!! It’s crazy to think about how much my life has changed in the past year, I cried last year, on my 25th birthday, because I knew I wasn’t where I wanted or supposed to be. I was living on my own, had a good job, had all kinds of things going for me… but it wasn’t God’s best for me. It’s been an incredibly transitional year, extremely difficult and trying at times BUT amazing. Turning 26 today, I can’t imagine being at a better place in life. I love it, what a joyful day.

As most of you know, I raise support to do what I do. I haven’t quite figured out the art of support raising yet and am no where close to being at my ‘full salary’ (If you’re good at it, I would love your help!) but God keeps providing for all my needs.

I have a pretty important need that I thought I would put out there on my birthday… So if you were going to buy me a cool shirt or some expensive lip gloss maybe you could do this instead!! OR if you’re interested in a really practical way of supporting me, this is a great one.

I need a new computer.

The one I use now is over 3 years old, I travelled with it and used it full time when I was in sales for 2 years, it has about an 18 second battery life, weights a million pounds, has sticky keys that sometimes don’t work and it crashed about a month ago (I lost a lot and didn’t have a computer for 6 days)… It’s just really on its last legs in life.

The thing with my job is that I could work from anywhere in Canada, as long as I have a computer with me. A large part of what I do is meeting with people and communicating online with people across Canada. If someone wants to start a prayer room in Canada or registers one I’m their first contact. I’ll help them with whatever they need help with and eventually get them in touch with people in their city/region, send out resources, try to create new ones, network, etc… So a computer, like most people these days, is a pretty important part of my job.

If this is something you’re interested in doing you could actually do it really easy online. Go to our website (www.24-7prayer.ca), click the donate button, follow the directions, and in the ‘special project’ section just write ‘Daria’s computer’. And yes, you will even get a tax receipt!

Thanks so much! Have a great April Fools day :)

Brantford and City Wide Prayer in Canada

I rolled into Brantford (aka The City of God) yesterday afternoon. I had to relearn how to drive on busy city highways again, merging from the 400-401-QEW felt foreign to me after the past couple weeks of beautiful scenery.

I’m staying with Dave, Krissy and their 3 really cute children. Dave is our regional team leader for Ontario (and the creator of my blog!) so it’s great to be spending more time with him, his family and community. Their church, Freedom House, is actually in a mall right downtown and this week their running a full week of 24-7 Prayer, it has been awesome so far! I find discipline hard while I travel so my 6-8am shift this morning was well needed. They have their store-front church open from 10am-4pm this week as a trial to see if they’ll be able to keep it open as a donation based coffee shop, I was there this afternoon, it was great.

There are actually three city churches praying this week in Canada: This one in Brantford, Regina has been praying 24-7 for 40 days before Easter and a church in Edmonton is also praying 24-7 this week. As Nate, our Saskatchewan regional team leader, said this week in a facebook message, “It’s a hot week in the heavenlies” here in Canada! It’s exciting to be part of it all.

An Eagle's Cry- Sky and Angie

Finally, I need to tell you more about Sky and Angle from Thunder Bay… I randomly met Sky at Calico’s, him and his wife have a ministry to Natives- remember that story? This is a bit more on who they are, what they do and what I learned. It might be a little long, but it’s an amazing story!
I have a copy of Sky’s testimony that was in the Indian Life Newspaper, I’ll quote parts of it as well as tell you what he taught me and what Brad and I experienced when we went to visit (everything italicized is taken from his testimony):

‘Yeah, okay, I’ll quit,’ I just said the words so she would stay. But I knew deep down that I couldn’t quit. Not on my own. I’d been drinking and into drugs for far too long – since I was a young child.
I’m Saulteaus and was adopted at the age of two by a non-native family. Though well cared for by my adopted parents, I always hated who I was. You see, I wanted to be white.
I got drunk for the first time when I was just five years old after breaking into a neighbor trailer and stealing a six-pack. When I was seven, I set fire to my dad’s barn and watched it burn down.
Never fitting in with other kids filled me with pain and anger. How could the kids in grade there call me drunken Indian when they didn’t know me? From then on I got into lots of fights with other kids.
By the time I was 13, I was into hard liquor. In grade nine I was smoking pot
Needless to say, high school was a total haze. I tried sports but never felt I fit in. I built myself up to being a scrapper and fighter. There was a lot of hate inside me.
I got hooked on chemicals real bad in grade 12- acid and mushrooms. Starting cocaine in my late teens, I soon found it was a habit I couldn’t afford. But it helped me mask a lot of pain. I lived from day to day, couch surfing, unable to hold on to a job..
...My adopted family were Christians and I’d always had the attitude that I’d accept Jesus at the last minute. I also realized that wasn’t such a cool attitude to have.
During one of my drug excursions, I had an out-of-body experience where I saw myself being carried out in a body bag by paramedics.
I’d walk down the street and beat up anybody because I was so full of hate…
Sky met Angie while working in Ottawa and they were married 6 months later. He did everything he could to sober up while they were dating, but couldn’t. He got home one day and she was packing her bags… that was when she gave him the choice: the bottle or her. He said he would quit not thinking he actually could.
I’ll tell you, just waking up sober for the next few days and with a clear head was amazing. I didn’t know it at the time but it was the Lord who set me free.
A few years later, in 1994, Sky met Angel Valentine, a Puerto Rican pastor who had been a gang leader in NYC.
In many ways, he was a lot like me – full of hate and anger- before he became a Christian. I was on the same track, involved in drugs and everything else. I could relate to everything he said, especially the part about him being Puerto Rican and of a different culture than the mainstream. I knew what that was like being a First Nations man… This was at a time when my life was getting better. I had a job and quit drinking. I had my wife Angie and a son at home. Life was basically good but I didn’t have peace until I accepted the Lord sitting around that table at that men’s breakfast.
Sky and Angie drifted along in their religious faith for a few years until one day God called them to ‘Wake UP!’ In 2000 he went to The Gathering of the Nations in Ottawa and was healed of his broken identity,
God told me, “I’m proud of you, my son, I created you to be a First Nations man. Be proud of who you are.
Before I knew it doors were flying open. People in Native ministry would look at me and say, “The Lord is calling you.”
Within six months, Angie and I were enrolled in Bible college in Minnesota. It was while we were there that I first thought of the name “Eagle’s Cry” as the name of our new ministry. It was like a wind in my head. The eagle is the Creator’s messenger and that’s what we are. God cries with the cry of our people.
I’d been making a lot of money with benefits, living in a nice suburban neighborhood with two cars. But the Lord called us out of it… After two years I had come to visit friends in Thunder Bay, Ontario. I saw kids on the streets in the cold October rain. I saw the oppressive looks, the woundedness, and it pierced my heart. I went back and told my wife. She was in agreement. The Lord also gave her peace about it.
Sky, Angie and their 2 kids moved to Thunder Bay in 2004 not knowing anybody. They spent their first few years just ministering on the streets and getting to know the people that God so strongly gave them a heart for.
I feel called to be a voice for the unheard. I like to see the living conditions of the people so I go and meet people where they’re at, in the streets and alleys – mainly the untouchables. I hang out with the people that Jesus would hang out with. Six years ago, my pride wouldn’t have let me do that.
Now, Sky and Angie have this amazing space where they’re able to welcome families from the neighborhood. It started with only 5 tables and a section for clothing. Now they have 30 tables, a kids play corner, a room to cut hair, a free clothing store, a secret food pantry (because they know the way people play the system as they were once there), some staff/office/prayer space- It’s amazing! They’ve also been talking about starting a prayer room!!
Brad and I went on a quiet Tuesday morning and there were at least 40 people hanging out. There was hot coffee/tea and volunteers serving cake, music playing, kids running around… Some people were just in and out but most people stay, it’s where they find community. They showed a video on the prodigal son and then Sky preached for a good 10-15 minutes and surprisingly, everyone was totally paying attention. Sky spoke on Romans 6, focusing on no longer being a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness. He spoke from personal experience on how it’s so easy to get caught up in quick fixes and addictions – but that Christ is the real deal. It was amazing! Something I loved about Sky and Angie’s approach to ministry was their obvious ability to shelter, feed, cloth, and love people but also the open and honest way they communicate our need for Christ and pray with people. I wanted to take a picture of their family before I left but we couldn’t find Angie. We eventually found her down on her knee’s speaking into a woman’s life and praying with her… that’s just the type of people they are.
Sky told us that there have already been 7 deaths in their community this year. They recently found an addict they knew frozen to death by the lake.

This is a small part of an article I read in the Toronto Star recently:
The new census data shows that across Canada, 72.1 per cent of the country’s off-reserve aboriginal population lives in urban centres, compared to only 26.3 per cent who live on reserves. The number of aboriginals living off reserve since the last census was taken in 2001 has increased by 3.0 per cent.
Canada’s aboriginal population tends to gravitate toward cities in search of jobs and a better life. However, they often find it difficult to access the services they need to prosper. Off-reserve, they can no longer access the federally funded services once available to them and provincial governments are often unwilling to take financial responsibility, leaving those in need in a vacuum.

Around 30% of Thunder Bay’s population is Native, and they say that pretty soon it will be closer to 50%.

Sky ends off his testimony with these challenging words:
Walls of organized religion have hurt our First Nations people. I don’t shove religion down their throats but mainly I sit and listen to them because they’ve got some amazing stories to tell.
My heart is to see a healing in the culture- to see restoration of families through the heart of the Creator- Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
My name “Sky”, is short for Skyler which means ‘a place of shelter.’ My heart is for the people from the north who are coming into Thunder Bay. We want to be a ‘safety net’ for them. We’re looking at setting up a healing center here, a place where people can get some dignity back into their lives.
I remember back to when I sobered up. A week later I got a job. That first paycheck and the thrill of buying groceries with it – boy, there’s dignity in that.
We can sit here all our lives and blame people. We’ve got to stand up and make a difference. That’s what I want to do.

Keep being the change in Thunder Bay Sky and Angie.

Leaving Thunder Bay

My car is all packed and ready to go! I’m pretty sad to be leaving Thunder Bay, it was an awesome week. It was totally different than what I expected but so good.

These were the highlights:
-Staying with Jenn, Claire and Heidi… and hanging out a lot with Brad and Nick.
-Meeting Sky and Angie from An Eagles Cry (I REALLY need to write a blog about that this weekend- amazing story!)
-Great times at Calico’s Café
-Seeing Tyler and Veronica, a couple I went to Tyndale with in 03-04.
-Random adventures: The Thunder Bay Restaurant, off roading up Mount McKay with Nick in his rented truck, visiting the Terry Fox monument, climbing with Brad (it still hurts), Madhouse pub- really good sweet potato fried with great people, seeing the Great Lake Swimmers at the University…
-Meeting all kinds of new people – I’m a little sad to be leaving them all…

Now I’m on my way back down to Sault Ste. Marie to stay with Dan and Laura (an 8hr drive), then to North Bay on Saturday (about 6hrs), then Huntsville Sunday (1.5hrs) to see Granny, then down to Brantford on Monday. Freedom house in Brantford is starting a week of prayer on Sunday so I’ll spend the week with them and connecting with people from the GTA.

Thunder Bay: Divine Appointments

I week before I drove here I questioned if I should come, “God, do you have something for me up there or do I just want to go up because I’ve always wanted to visit Tbay and my friends up there?” I really questioned my motives and purpose and wondered if it would be more beneficial to go to Saskatchewan. I told Chris and we prayed about it for 2 days and in the end we both felt the same, I should go to Thunder Bay.

I drove up on Saturday knowing there was a purpose but didn’t know what it was. Every city/town I had visited up until this point I knew what I was doing and who I was meeting with before I went. All I knew this time was that I had 3 friends there: Nick Cotter (from Montreal),Brad Farrish (from Summit College), Brad Doff (a friend I met in Israel a few years ago) and that they found me a place to stay in a house with 3 other girls. On the 8hr drive up I really felt that God was to make the way for me in Thunder Bay, not me… I really didn’t want to start contacting churches and introducing myself to tell people about 24-7 Prayer- there is just something so un-relational and un-natural about that approach and I really wasn’t feeling it… I just felt I needed to show up and see what God had for me and who he wanted me to meet.
I love Starbucks and when I’m in Montreal I spend a good 25hrs a week working from there so I was pretty pleased by the 2 Starbucks in Thunder Bay… BUT I found an even better local coffee shop where I’ve ended up spending most of my time, called Calico’s. Nick and Brad randomly stop in to visit me between classes to hang out, they have free wireless and serve fair-trade organic coffee and lose tea, it’s great!

On Monday Nick came to visit me at the same time that this guy named Sky walked in, so Nick introduced me. Nick hasn’t seen Sky in almost 2 years. Sky and his wife lead an amazing ministry called An Eagles Cry; they reach out to the poor oppressed and abused people of Thunder Bay. Also those bound by drugs, alcohol and prostitution. Sky is Native and most of their ministry is to the Natives. As soon as I met him I heard the Lord say, “give him the copy of Red Moon Rising on the table”… I thought that was a little strange at first, since I just met him, but after a few minutes of hearing what he does and chatting it made sense and was easy. He invited me to come to the centre so I went yesterday for a couple hours with Brad, it blew my mind. I’ll write a blog on that next.

Yesterday, after visiting An Eagles Cry, I went back to Calico’s and sat on the big couch in front of the fire. I was trying to get organized so I had all kinds of stuff sprawled out on the coffee table and couch. There are two chairs creating a U around the fireplace, a guy came and sat down shortly after I got there on one of the chairs. Nick texted me to say he was coming by with some of his favorite Maltese sandwiches for us. He showed up about an hour after I got there and said hi to the guy sitting next to me first… Turns out this guy was Pete, the Pastor of Student Ministries at his church! Nick again introduced me and we all hung out for about an hour. I got to hear what’s been going on at their church and shared a bit about what I’m doing, we exchanged contact info to keep in touch and so that I can send him some prayer resources…

It’s just so amazing because the biggest thing I heard from God when I was coming here was to just let him orchestrate everything… So I’ve just been learning to trust him in that and not try to orchestrate anything on my own… He is totally leading me to meet the people he wants me to meet. Love it! Louise in Sudbury, after praying for me, told me to be discerning with how I spend my time. I understand now more than ever before that God will make my way and open the right doors as I listen to Him.

Also, the 3 girls I’m staying with have been wonderful and so refreshing. I could probably write a whole blog on them too. I think my time with them was also in God’s heart…

I sit here amazing at how God works as we listen to Him and just trust.

Thunder Bay

Sooo I've sucked at updating my blog the past few days.... I promise to have something up for tomorrow. It was a beautiful drive up, wow, I highly recommend the drive around the lake.
I have connected with some really amazing people totally by accident- some cool stories are coming!
I'm staying with 3 girls and even have my own room and bed, these girls are great and so hospitable.... I'm on my way home to cook some salmon for them as a small way to say thanks for being so great... they have been realllly great. I love community.
More soon!

Sault Ste. Marie - With Dan and Laura

It’s past 1am and I have a pretty long 8hr drive a head of me tomorrow but this is all too fresh on my heart to not write right now…

I got to Sault Ste. Marie at around 5pm tonight and went straight to Dan and Laura’s church. Dan was my intern at Summit (my first year of college) and then we worked together all summer doing a skills and leadership training program with teens. We were pretty good friends for that year but in the past 5 years have totally drifted apart. He heard I was driving through and invited me to come stay with them in ‘the Soo’. They have a really cute 7 month old boy named Jaxon and Dan is the youth pastor at Bethany Baptist Church.

So we had a fun night hanging with the kids and I spoke a little on prayer. When we got home they showed me the scrap book that Laura made of their daughter, Mya, who only survived 30hrs. Wow… I had no idea they went through this and totally didn’t expect to break out in water works tonight… I truly couldn’t even fathom as I looked at the pictures of this beautiful 8lb5oz girl who looked completely healthy. Then I saw the little white casket at her funeral………… They did a beautiful job of capturing the 30hrs of her life through photo’s and writing but I couldn’t help to think, WHY GOD, WHYYY???? It’s one of those things that I guess will only be understood in heaven.

The faith that Laura and Dan have is incredible… like way beyond my understanding. At the funeral they sang the song “Blessed be your name” as a reminder that God gives and takes away (even first born babies… ouch) and they have totally given God the glory for giving them the strength to get through the past couple years… and I’m sure they know God far more deeply because of all this….

So I’m just sitting here, at almost 1:30am feeling sad and pondering faith and the weird and unfathomable ways that God works even through the most difficult of times...

Sudbury

I LOOOOVED Sudbury! WOW, amazing people I got to spent time with...

I left North Bay very early to make it to CJTK radio station for an 8:40am interview. It was my first time on the radio so I was pretty nervous but a great experience nontheless. This radio station was a dream come true for Curtis and his wife Shelly about 12 years ago, now there are 4 stations in northern Ontario. There is some amazing stuff happening through this station, they actually even have a 24hr prayer line with people praying many hours a day in their basement.

Shelly, Claire and Tilly prayed for me and then took me for breakfast after my interview- what an encouragement. Claire is a very gentle, soft spoken but wise and amazing woman. Her husband is a pastor in town and her and Shelly actually get together regularly to pray for the wives of pastors as they’ve been seeing the spiritual attack on them. It’s so true, I keep hearing of seemingly solid Christian women leaving their husbands, often pastors… sad. Tilly is this fiery little, older woman with wild passion for prayer, God’s Kingdom, Sudbury and Canada. Apparently she’s the prayer warrior of Sudbury. She was so wild I asked her to join me on the journey but the radio station wouldn’t let her leave and I don’t blame them!

I spent my afternoon at Laurentian University. Barb is on staff there and also volunteers with IVCF and the Spiritual Life Centre at the school. She did her undergrad and graduate degree there and has now worked there for about 11 years- so she knows and has a real heart for the school. She coordinated for me to meet a bunch of students through out the day, a youth pastor from the community and then I did a bible study from 5-6pm. It was a group of about 6 students who were totally refreshing to speak with, such honest and sincere hearts. They were dreaming about doing some 24-7 Prayer in the teepee in the courtyard of the school- I don’t think that’s ever been done before- Go Laurentian!!

I spent the evening with Louise and Peter Edmonds (Bernie’s parents). Louise was the one that actually made the contacts for me to meet all these wonderful people. I had a great night catching up with them. They actually live on a lake so this morning Louise and I went on a beautiful walk around the lake and then prayed together before I left. As tiring as Sudbury was, it was amazing and in less than 30hrs I feel I got a sense of what’s going on in the city. Something really cool about the radio station is that it really brings unity among the churches because it seems to be something that most Christians will listen to and work together to support. I loved the sense of unity in the churches. Ohh, and apparently there’s a guy named Steve who read Red Moon Rising and encouraged a bunch of youth pastors to read it so that they could start a prayer room in the city but I still haven’t met him! I want to meet you Steve!

Nipissing University

Just got home from an awesome night at Nipissing University, they have quite the group, tonights study was with about 15 students. Someone led a study on courtesy/the good Samaritan and then I spoke about prayer for about 45minutes... we also watched the Campus America video (http://www.campusamerica.org/). Really fun night. Keep on Nipissing!

COMING UP NEXT...

Someone suggested I post my schedule a few days prior so that they could pray for me… so that’s what I’ll start doing. (feel free to send me suggestions if you have any.)

Tonight, March 18th
I’m joining in on the NCCF (Nipissing Canadore Christian Fellowship) group to talk about prayer.

March 19th (big day)
6:45am- Leave North Bay for Sudbury (1hr40minutes)
8:40am- I’ll be live on CJTK Christian Radio then having breakfast with them.
12:00pm- Meeting with students at Laurentian University
2:00pm- Meeting with local youth pastors (?? Still to be determined)
4:30pm- Leading a study with students at Laurentian University
6:00pm-Home to have dinner with the Edmonds. Their son Bernie has been one of my best friends since I was 11 and his parents moved to Sudbury a while back so I’ll be staying with them for the evening.

March 20th
Spend time with Louise (Bernie’s mom)
12:00pm-ish Head to Sault Ste. Marie (about a 4hr drive)
7:00pm- Hang out with the Bethany Baptist Youth Group. My friend Dan (from college) is the youth pastor there so I’ll stay with him, his wife and baby son.

March 21st
Drive to Thunder Bay (about an 8 hr drive)
Thanks for joining me on this journey. I’ll continue to keep you posted…

Being Still.

Being still is often pretty hard for me. It’s a discipline.

Last night Kayla showed me one of her favorite Nooma video’s and I couldn’t even concentrate for long enough to get what it was saying- that’s when it hit me, “Daria, you need to chill out!” I’m an intense person and can easily get lost in something or just being busy. I think Kayla was ready to throw me in a bath with some lavender and take my constantly buzzing blackberry away, that’s what good friends do after all.

I think and talk about how we need to live our life in proper rhythm, breathing in and out… So today, for the first time in a while, I finally turned my blackberry off and hid it from my sight for a good 3 hours, shut my computer down and I was still. I read a little but then I was just still… And right now I feel like a new person.

I’ll post my schedule for the next few days tomorrow. Goodnight.

Heading north...

I left Huntsville early this morning for North Bay. Other than the dead deer I saw on the side of the road it was a beautiful, sunny drive. People keep asking me if I’m travelling alone and they’re normally surprised when I tell them I am. Every place I get to I know someone so I’m not really alone, but my drives are and I LOVE IT… It’s like my quite alone time… there is something so refreshing about blasting your music and driving down a traffic-less highway for a few hours.

I’m staying with one of my best friends, Kayla. I met her my second year of college and it was an instant connection. There was a prayer group of 5 girls who would pray every night after dinner so we grew pretty close during that time. We try to visit each other about twice a year and talk and pray on the phone about once a week… She’s just one of those really refreshing, deeply spiritual and authentic people we all need in our life. She’s studying art at Nipissing University so she connected me with a few really awesome people here. I met Kathleen this morning, a vibrant 19 year old girl who will be leading the prayer ministry at Nipissing next year. We talked, dreamt about what could happen and prayed for a good couple hours. Wednesday night I’ll be attending the University bible study. More soon!

Huntsville- March 15

I wanted to write last night but the only wireless connection at Grandma’s is on her balcony and it was a little too cold, sorry! I had an amazing day and was exhausted by the end… I wonder how my grandmother must have felt, she’s a trooper and spent the whole day with me. She has to be one of the most amazing women I know. I fought some major tears saying bye to her this morning.

Ohh, we’ve decided on Thunder Bay, Saskatchewan will be a little later. I’m really looking forward to finally making it up there.

I started my day yesterday at the 9:30 Harvest Bible Chapel Muskoka service. The pastor, Kaj, started and was the director of Summit College, an awesome outdoor adventure sport bible college I attended from 17-19. It was great to see him and a few other Summit students again. A year or two after I left they started doing 24-7 Prayer rooms so Kaj was 1 of the 4-5 people in the community who had heard about 24-7. They’re a community of about 100. I made an announcement about 24-7 as they’ll be doing a prayer week leading up to Easter. Kaj had a great message, I’ll be reflecting on in the next few days.

I also met a guy named Ryan. Him, his wife Teresa, and 1.5 children (she’s pregnant) are moving to Manitoba next month with YFC and has a heart for youth and city wide prayer. I forget the city; it’s about half an hour north of Winnipeg. So if you’re from that area and want to meet him please let me know. .. I’m sure he would love to connect with you too.

My grandma and I then rushed to the 11am service at Riverside Baptist Church and got there a good 30 minutes late. We went back for 6:30 where I got to share the service with a couple who just got back from a one month mission to Papua New Guinea. In a recent letter from Pete Greig he wrote that Papua New Guinea was the latest and 91st country to register a prayer room. Amazing! Their prayer room is actually “a hut specially constructed from baboo and old tyres, with hibiscus and flowers and a cross made from palm leaves adorning the door.” Wow. I had 15 minutes to share with about 60 people who had never heard of 24-7 Prayer… but being older, well educated Baptists, most of them knew the history of Zinzindorf and the Moravians. Its Sunday night tradition to head to Tim Horton’s after the service so a group of about 7 of us continued chatting there.

It was through my grandparents and the VBS at Riverside that I first heard about Jesus… I went home on July 15, 1993, after a fun day at VBS and told my grandma that I believed in Jesus too and wanted God to be a part of my life. She tucked me in and prayed with me. .. So Riverside still holds a special place in my heart.

A little introduction...

Hello from Huntsville!

The 3 month travelling adventure has officially begun! Thanks for joining me on my blog. My plan is to write something everyday, as long as I can find a wireless connection, to keep you posted on what’s happening across our nation, who I’m meeting and what I’m learning as I travel through many different cities.

For the past 7 months I’ve been emailing and connecting with people from across Canada online so now I’m finally setting out to meet you in person. If you’ve ever been involved in 24-7 or want to get involved, please contact me. This week I’ll be in Huntsville, North Bay, Sudbury and then either Thunder Bay or Saskatchewan… I’m feeling pretty torn between the two… Thunder Bay was the original plan as I have a few friends up there but there is soooo much happening in Saskatchewan right now which is making me think I should head there sooner rather than later (nothing personal Tbay friends). Regina just started their 13th of 40 days of non-stop prayer before Easter, Weyburn is doing something similar with a big prayer focus and Eston College is praying next weekend, 24-7, during their ‘Encounter 2009’ weekend. Any thoughts on where you think I should go? Please send them to help me decide! I’ll be in Brantford (the city of God!) for their week of prayer at the beginning of April and in the Toronto Area until just after Easter. I’ll probably drive out east at the end of April and fly out west toward the end of May… So please email me if you want to connect, I would love to meet you and hear about what’s happening in your city/community/life...

Tomorrow I’ll be at Harvest Bible Chapel Muskoka in the morning and Riverside Baptist church in the evening. More then!

THANKS DAVE!

Dave just created me this awesome new blog for my journey... didn't he do a great job?!

THANK YOU Dave. :)

Back to packing.
More soon,
Daria