Tuesday May 25, 2010

After breakfast and our usual morning devotion, Kelly came to chat with us, see how things were going, and receive our feedback. We shared both uplifting and discouraging stories and talked about our schedule for the next two weeks.
We are officially at the half way point of our trip. Weird. The first week went by really slowly and the second week sped by rather quickly.
My team set off for Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Langley, a town directly east of Surrey for our days’ research. After arriving, we headed toward the administration part of the university to obtain our usual information. The campus was tiny and the amount of students we encountered was even smaller than that, possibly miniscule.
We weren’t able to obtain the information we needed and after being told to contact the main campus in Surrey, we decided to try the cafeteria in hopes of finding students. We were still unsuccessful. Adam, Sarah M, and Sarah H decided to stay at the cafeteria and eat their sack lunches while Jonny, Callie, and I went down the road to a cheap Chinese and Thai restaurant. Adam, Sarah H, and Sarah M took Soularium in hopes of finding a place to set up.
After lunch, we headed toward a place that seemed promising, New Life Christian Counseling. However, the lady was in a session and couldn’t meet with us at the time, so we said we would return in an hour. We stopped by the Chamber of Commerce and talked with a nice lady that was able to give us a large chunk of information in regards to the city of Langley.
We found the other three set up at a coffee shop, drinking coffee, and praying that someone would come in and see their sign and take the offer of “Tell us your story and we’ll buy you a cup of coffee.”
Jonny, Callie, and I set off towards the Willowbrook Shopping Centre that we were told was just down the road, but we never arrived. We came close, but decided that by the time we set foot inside, it would be time to head back to catch our bus back to Surrey. We dejectedly walked back the way we came only to get caught in the rain. We stopped at Tim Horton’s for some coffee and to rest after our long walk. Praise God for umbrellas and coffee shops!! :)
So far the day felt very discouraging and unproductive. The other three had just about as much productivity as we did. They sadly reported that no one told their story, but a few people did show interest. We headed back to PLBC around 4 PM.
It’s so incredibly easy to become discouraged when we frequently do not receive any kind of affirmation from the work we are doing. Kelly shows his appreciation for the work we are doing and the time we are saving him by doing all of this research and travelling. Sadly, that is easy to forget amidst the hustle and bustle of the every day. Please be in prayer for us in the aspects of encouragement and our abilities to focus as we continue our work through the next two weeks.