The final day

Hi everybody it's Carleigh, It's been a busy week for everybody on the team here are a few highlights of this week! Worshiping on Mt.Royal, Playing Ultimate Frisbee, Watching the Gospel Choir Family One, Playing Soccer, Playing Cards, Banana Rave, Riding the Metro, Watching Levi carry Graham up 284 stairs and Getting to know people!

Back to Brooklyn. We are home! After a slight rain delay, we have gotten through four hours of waiting at the airport and have made it back to Winnipeg. I am writing this from my bed. You have no idea how wonderful my bed is. And air conditioning! I love air conditioning. It's going to be a bit of an adjustment for us. Georgia offered up this great idea of ESSOR Montreal being a "Kingdom Glimpse." That has stuck with me. I hope it will give me perspective as I attempt to share the impact this trip has had on me. 

I wish I could write down all the stories from our time. We're planning on having a service at LSCF in a month or so, so make sure to listen for when that's happening. Thank you for all the love and support. It was great to see so many of your smiling faces when we got to the airport. 

We've come away with a new perspective of the world. I think this trip has given missions a new light for us. I am so excited to see what God is going to do with each and every one of us. I couldn't help but smile when Curtis said "We'll be back in 4 years, when we're youth leaders!" 

I will miss my family. I will miss Hangry Abe. I will miss giggling with Erica. I will miss Carleigh's creepy sleeping. I will miss Jenna's sarcasm. I will miss Cara's patience, Jessica's dancing, Camille's smile, Georgia's leadership, Jamie's trouble-making, Jordan's honesty, Kennedy's never ending Sean comments, and Abby's questions. I will miss Adrielle's energy, Graham's parkour, Ryan's James, Reiss's prayers, Justin's outgoing-ness, and Curtis's worshiping. I will miss so many more things, but I am excited about what youth in the fall will look like. This has been an intense experience. I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

So once again, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Christ est ma joie!

Day 9 On the Mountain

We worshipped on Mount Royal last night (Saturday night). I have sweat so much this trip that it's not even something I think about.
The view was breathtaking. We could see all of Montreal. We gathered outside a pavilion and danced in a big circle and praised God. At one point, Abe turned to me and yelled "WE ARE PRAISING GOD ON TOP OF A MOUNTAIN!" It was a good day. We tried to watch fireworks after, but there were a lot of people and trees in the way. We got a ride back to the college with another youth group on their bus. I am so thankful for that bus.

Today we debrief. There's worship and session this morning, and then we're heading the Bio...dome. Sphere? As a team. We have to be out of here by 7:45 tomorrow, but I feel like tonight's going  to be a late night.

Day 9 On the Lawn

Kennedy and I are blowing bubbles in the front lawn. It is gorgeous outside. The breeze is cool, the sun is out. The rest of the group is off cleaning Chinatown. We've got matching shirts, gloves, and garbage bags. Hopefully that's going well. It's a nice day for our last day of ministry. We're going to worship on Mount Royal this evening. I'm excited.

Day 9 As if This is Almost Over

Thursday was our roughest day. Thank you for your prayers. The anxiety and fear were overflowing. People wanted to go home. Our PAX was cancelled that day due to rain, so we were sent into the Underground City. But we got lost. We seperated into smaller groups so we could cover more ground. Only a few of us ended up in the right place. It was frustrating. It was a long day of wandering. We went out for poutine afterwards, but Riley and I took a taxi back to the college with Kennedy because she wasn't doing well.

Kennedy has been collapsing every evening around 6pm for the last 3 nights. We decided it would be wise to go back to the hospital. We had been feeling disconnected from each other as leaders, so we all went to the hospital together. Fiona, who's part of the lead team, stayed with our girls. One of us stayed there with her all night, and the rest of us went home so we could sleep. They got back at 4:30am. It was a long night with no answers.

So that was Thursday. Stressful, tense, just plain not good. But Friday. Friday was amazing! From the moment people woke up, you could feel the change in attitude. We started the day with a powerful worship time. Then we went outside as a team and sat on the lawn. Kurt shared with us about laying down our burdens and finding joy in God. He talked about the difficulty in trusting God both with your head and your heart. It was just what we needed to hear.

We ate our lunch outside on the grass, the headed out to a park to do PAX (public acts of Christ). We brought a soccer ball, chalk, bubbles, face paint; we showed up with no agenda, we just wanted to spread joy. Camille, Jenna, and I spent a solid hour writing and drawing with chalk. We covered a huge portion of a sidewalk with bible verses reminding people of God's love for them. I made my way over to the playground where they had set up the face paint station. There was a splash pad in the playground. I walked up to chaos. Kurt, Jessica, and Abe were running around with a bunch of kids, spraying each other and getting soaked. More of us joined in. It was awesome! They had become friends with two families sitting there, and their children were excited to play with us.

Justin made it his personal mission to talk to 10 people in the park. He talked to 16. That guy has a gift.

While I don't think there were any crazy conversion stories or huge changes in peoples lives, our team was greatly impacted by the experience. We were given hope for what we're doing. We got to have fun. I found real joy in those moments.

We got back to the college to find out public worship had been cancelled. So we started our own worship. Then Levi put on some FNL songs and we danced like crazy people. It was awesome. We even had a banana rave later on. We got to be ourselves and it was perfect.

As I lay here, thinking about going into our last day of ministry, I am blown away by the strength of our team. We have faced so many personal demons, and we have grown so strong in God. It's going to be hard to say goodbye to this family. I'll let you know how today goes!

Day 8

Hi there, it's Riley! We're sorry about the lack of blogging these past couple days. It's been pretty crazy for us here in Montreal. But I'd love to tell you about our Wednesday #drimetime.
So we were split into two groups based on which dramas we knew and then we were sent to different spots in the city to present! Drime wasn't something that most of us saw as something we were comfortable with. It's not what you would call a subtle ministry. However, as the day went on we performed in the blistering heat and had some amazing encounters with God, the people of Montreal, and each other.
And so in the evening, we asked our students what was one bloggable moment of their days. Here are their answers:
-Jordan got to feed a homeless man lunch.
-Carleigh had tons of fun on our escapade in the metro with singing, dancing and rapping included.
-Jess loved the dance parties during public worship and Levi's grandpa inspired dance moves.
-Jenna said that her knees got roasted on the sidewalk during the drimes.
-Cara said that she loved being a part of the public worship in the park.
-Jamie loved having the opportunity to talk with some people from "Doctors without borders" and learn about them. She also befriended a couple dogs named Chenelle and Bonjour.
-Adrielle claims that she's a gangster now.
-Abby wanted to highlight the amazing/loud singing on the metro that our team participated in.
-Erica wanted me to quote that "Rie Bread hit the dab" as well as "Lendog do it for Abe and Er Bud".
-Georgia approached a lady in the park to chat but sadly she only spoke Russian.
-Camille didn't  think that people woild respond to the drimes but was so excited when they did.
-Abe said that  God gave her courage to approach, talk, and pray with strangers.
-Curtis says that the french girls keep saying no.
-Justin says that he loves walking because he feels like he's going somewhere.
-Graham is pumped that he met the great value version of Ed Sheeran
-Ryan says vitamin c is life
-Reiss #alive&authentic

So I believe that it's quite apparent to everyone that we all had diverse experiences throughout Montreal.

Thanks for reading and checking in on us. Stay awesome.

The SOAR team :)

Day 6 It is Wednesday my dudes. (Ahhhhhh)

The title is a vine. Check it out.

Yesterday was hot. So. Hot. Kennedy and I stayed back so she could rest. Watching our team stumble through the door, I was grateful for our air conditioner. Some went out to the park to Drime. Some did maintenance stuff. We all got a lot out of it.

The guys on our team are wonderful. Erica's knee has been acting up, and they had to walk up a hill to get to the park. She had offers from all the guys to be carried. They are such men of God; I am so proud of them.

The team went out to do ministry today, but Kennedy and I stayed behind. We ended up going to the Children's Hospital just to get her checked out to be safe. We took the metro alone (!) And totally rocked it! We spent a good four hours to hear everything was pretty normal, had to find the team to get the key to the school, then came all the way home. We left at 2:30 and got home at 8:30pm. She's a trooper, and while I wish I hadn't miss the ministry today, I had an amazing day, and I wouldn't change a thing.

I've included a few pictures from our day. Maybe I'll get Riley to fill you in on their Drime time.

Day 5 Still so Sweaty

Hey guys this is Jenna! We've had some amazing experiences and have learned many new things recently during our time in Montreal. Our theme for the week has been venturing into unchareted territory and I guess this is a way for me to venture into my uncharted territory because i'm not very "gung ho" into writing...Yesterday many of us experimented with acting. This scared most of us,but surprisingly alot of us really enjoyed what we learned and were able to have fun. As as a group we have also learned that after this trip our legs will be looking pretty good due to climbing 4 floors of stairs ( 94 steps) everyday. And if you think we don't love steps enough, someone thought it would be a great idea that before bed we should run up the the Basilica stairs. I think most of us pulled multiple musscles, however the view was amazing! Hope you enjoed my little blurb, jenna 

Back to Brooklyn here! We spent the morning at Mount Royal Park. We focused on prayer. It was nice to walk around in the city and feel the breeze. We got to go off on our own in the park and spend some time listening.

We got back for lunch, and we've split off into our groups for our ministry portion.

Day 5- And I Thought We Were Sweaty Before

Good Morning! Abe is reenacting Castaway for us for some reason here in the girls room. We had a late night last night. Pray for Kennedy. Her concussion makes it hard for her to get out of bed; she is having a hard time with her head pain.

We begin our ministry today. 8 of us are going to help to maintenance at an indigenous peoples centre, and the rest of us are Drime'ing in the park. We're scared, nervous; there's a lot of unknowns here. But we're also excited. Talk to you later!

Day 4 Con't

I am writing this to you on the side of the oratory. I am sitting on the lawn, waiting for all our joggers who decided to run up the staira before bed. There are a lot of stairs. A lot. Kurt led us in many stretches beforehand. Abe has a video I'm hoping to post. We were limber and ready to go. I mean, they were ready to go. Running, pfft. I've had enough leg days to last a month. We live on the fourth floor and worship in the basement.

Today was an amazing day. We learned about a bunch of different ways we'll be serving the community. One of our missions is a thing called Drime. It's acting out stories that show God to people through a sort of dance and music. It's actually really fun, and some of us are really good at it!

We found a piano on the street today. I found some chords online, Kurt started playing, and we worshipped in the street. It was just what we needed. People gathered around us to watch and listen. Riley had a really cool experience speaking to a lady named Sylvie in French!

We took some extra team time to just lay in the grass and hang out. We have made nicknames for everyone. Here a few.

Nicknames:
Levi-lenny
Georgia-g raffe g cat
Curtis- C-Lion
Kurt- Brother Koarch (whisper soft r)
Erica- Er-bud
Abby- Abe, Ab-dog
Steve- Reverend Rat Dog, aka Rev Rat
Carleigh-C-gull
Cara- Care bear
Brooklyn- Big Brook Dog, aka BBD
Adrielle- Elroy

Day 4. Whoo!!

Hi everyone. I'll write more later, but we are having fun, sweating, and loving our Soar family.

Please pray for Kennedy and Jordan, as they are both sick.

Day 3 Sunday Funday

Today, we journeyed out into the city for a service at Resurgence Church. It's held in the old Montreal Canadiens practising grounds, which is actually a movie theatre now. So we were in a church that was in a movie theatre. So cool. The worship was our speed. Lots of upbeat, dancing songs. I think overall we enjoyed our experience. It was great to hear about what God is doing in this city. We heard the story of Mount Royal, and were inspired to see this great city through God's eyes. It was amazing to find an Australian pastor so passionate about the history and the healing needed in Montreal.

We spent the afternoon in St. Jean Baptist Cathedral, learning about the history of Christianity in Quebec, as well as about the building. We had the incredible treat of listening to Family One, a gospel choir from France. They were really really talented; well rehearsed, great energy. But you could tell they were also really worshipping Jesus. It was incredible. I was blessed by that experience. They even got us dancing, and dabbing (google that one).

Our metro ride home was pretty quiet. France had just lost the Euro Cup, so everywhere was pretty packed. We managed to navigate everything fine, but we were tired.

It's strange how it works, but we start with energy, we give our all out in the city, come home drained, and then our evening session seems to renew life. Tonight I saw arms raised, we danced, we cried, we hugged, we fell to our knees in the presence of God that overwhelmed us. We took communion together. I am so thankful for those times.

We're challenging ourselves to disconnect from our lives back home in order to fully engage out here. Social media is distracting, and we are passionate about our mission here. So, goodbye Snapchat! Au revoir Instagram! Keep checking the blog for updates; I'll keep trying to post twice a day.

Things you need to know:

-Erica's greatest annoyance is she can't find any Teddy Grahams in Montreal.

-Ryan took a tumble trying to jump over a pylon. The first-aid backpack threw off his balance. Ironic.

-Starbucks is our friend. Jenna loves       S'mores fraps.

- Hangry Abe is a thing, and she is scary

-Levi = Lenny, but no one's really sure why.

Day 2, Part Deux (We so French)

We are getting used to this place. We have mastered the metro, braved the rain, and worshipped in the Hottest basement. But we're staying positive. The food's been weird (today for supper was chicken with cheese curds, gravy, and apples. Weird.), but we're being fed. We are a solid, united team, and we just like being with each other. Whatever comes at us, we've got  God and each other.

We had 2 MacDonald's stops today. It was neccesary to dry off every few hours. I think I complained the most about being wet. I am so impressed with our students ability to charge into any situation and own it. Through long waits, unexpected obstacles, and a new culture, we're finding a balance between being ourselves and respecting our surrounding. For example, one of the rules here is no hanging shirts on the windowsill. However, there is no rule about purchasing a used air conditioner off kijiji and perching it in the windowsill. Shhh. Probably an unwritten rule.

We're off to sleep now. Hope all is well at home. Check out the pictures from our day! I'm on my phone, so I don't know how to label the pictures...
Goodnight!

Day 2

We are a soggy bunch. Today was explore Montreal day. We successfully rode the metro, wandered the old port, and stopped at some cathedrals. It's been raining all day, but people are in pretty good spirits despite the downpour. I'll writw more later, just know Kurt is an expert leader, Jenna loves smores frapps, and Ryan will parkour off anything.

At the End of the Day

We're. Exhausted. Not much to write. After waiting at the airport for three hours, we rushed into a school that looks like a castle, across the street from a cathedral. No air conditioning, which isn't suprising, as this building was buit in 1869. It is beautiful though. Had a quick supper, a 2 hour worship session where Frenchand english were spoken. We're pretty drained, but excited for the week.

The girls are in their own classroom, and our boys are sharing a room with some boys from Ontario, I think...

Praying for renewed energy, open hearts, and a willingness to go into the uncharted.

Montreal Day 1

We have made it to Montreal! After a pretty uneventful flight, we are sitting in the airport wondering when the bus is coming.

We've split (always have a buddy!) And are grabbing some lunch. Our options are Tim Hortons or Subway. This seems to be pretty standard airport fare. Also some french restaurants, but we're a little new here. Give us a few days.

Spirits are high, energy is flowing, and we're settling in for a potentially long wait. There's a Walmart nearby, so maybe an excursion is in our future.

We're causing mischief already. Before leaving the airport in Winnipeg, Starbucks was visited. I believe the name "Ryan" was given four times in a row, all spelled differently? Fave spelling: Rya'an.

One More Sleep

We leave for Montreal tomorrow morning!

Assembling at 7:30 tomorrow morning, we will be finding out which of us are morning people (yours truly), and which of us are...not. I think our excitement should keep us going. We have a couple of first-time flyers, so keep us in your prayers as we head out.


The banner that hangs over everything we are doing while in Montreal is Love God, Love People. We will be partnering with churches and community groups to join in what God is doing in the city. We don't know what that looks like. For me, I like to know details. I like to plan and prepare myself for what the day will hold. I can't do that for this trip. I have limited control over my surroundings, and while I am a leader, I am also a follower in all this. A verse that has brought me rest through the week leading up to Montreal is Isaiah 41:10-13.

  "Don't panic. I'm with you. There's no need to fear for I'm your God. I'll give you strength. I'll help you. I, your God, have a firm grip on you and I am not letting go."

I really like this interpretation done in The Message. Reading it makes me feel like God has placed His hand on my shoulder and is my friend, comforting me. As we head out into a week of unknowns, of new experiences and close quarters, I am calm because I know that God is not going to let us down. 

Thank you to everyone reading this, those who have our faces on their fridges, and who are lifting us up in prayer. God has great things in store for us, and I look forward to sharing all that happens with you.

P.S. I may forget to write some days. I feel like I will possibly get tired. I assume that will happen. But I'll do my best to keep up with this thing!