Thursday, October 26, 2006

World Mission Workshop 2006 - Lubbock Christian University

What do you get when you take fifteen people, a fifteen passenger van and a small trailer and send them packing from Regina, Saskatchewan to Lubbock, Texas for a workshop on world missions?? A lot of fun times, good memories and changed lives!

About two weeks ago i had the pleasure of attending my fifth World Mission Workshop, this time in Lubbock Texas. Fifteen of us from WCC went. It was a little cramped in the van but it really didn't matter all that much. Everyone seemed to get along pretty well and I know that realationships were deepened.

We left at 5 am on Tuesday October 10th. That first day we drove for 20 hours. We spent the night at York College in Nebraska. We toured the campus on Wednesday morning and then drove another 6 hours to Oklahoma Chrisitan University in Oklahoma. I had the opportunity to catch up with some Canadian friends who either work or study there as well as my American friend Heather Pienne who I met in Brazil. Amanda Coulter gave us a tour of OC's campus on Friday morning and then we made our way through the last stretch to reach Lubbock.

Something I began to ask myself during that last day of travel is, Why do people call Saskatchewan ugly?? It is way prettier than west Texas!!!! Oh my goodness! I have never seen such a barren and desolate looking place in all my life! I think Saskatchewan is beautiful without even comparing it to that horrible place known as west Texas!

The workshop was a great encouragment to me. It is wonderful to be with so many young people who are all focused on the same thing that I am. Highlights for me were all of the keynote speakers and the feast or famine. On Saturday at lunch we were divided into different groups that represented different economic groups in the world. We ate according to what group we were in. Some people sat on the ground recieving only bread and soup, others torillas and beans and others sitting at tables being waited on by staff. On the trip home to Canada we shared some of our different experiences during the feast or famine. It was an eye oppening experience for all us.

We broke the trip home up on to two days. We spent the night somewhere in Colorado although I really have no idea where exactly. It was an encouraging trip and I hope that the only thing that will prevent me from attending more of these workshops in the future is actually being out on the mission field.

After arriving in Colorado our group worked off a little energy by climbing a tree in teh church parking lot.


Here is most of our group at a rest stop somewhere before we hit the Canadian border.