Adventures of Amy and Robert in Morocco

Map of our trip in Morocco

Day 0
After a bit of frenzy we finally boarded the plane to London, Heathrow. It has been a busy week with the normal activities of school, power Christmas shopping and with Robert on call.
Many have asked why we choose our first trip to be Morocco in Northern Africa. Both Robert and I enjoy traveling but also wanted to go to places that we would not be able to go when we are older. Robert only booked the first night in Casablanca and the rest of the trip we were to plan on the fly, guided by locals and the Lonely Planet guide book.

We arrived in Casablanca, Morocco with a familiar sense of India; the dampness, and yellow tinge as we arrived at night. We took the train from the airport to the city center. We were greeted by a group of taxi drivers all promising good rates, and even better hotel rates if we followed them. The haggling was to be expected, we were on guard and determined not to be tainted.

The main spoken languages in Morocco are Arabic and French. We had no inkling of any Arabic but luckily our minimal French enabled us to at least bargain and get around in the petit taxi’s. We were able to get tickets to Marrakech quite easily at the train station as the station had pre printed time tables in English for tourists like us.

The hotel we had booked was Al Mounia, in the heart of Casblanca next to old Medina where a wall surrounded a market filled with shops and restaurants.



We also followed the recommendations of the Lonely Planet Guide to Al Mounia restaurant, a lavishly decorated Arabic/French style restaurant were we reclined in plush cushioned covered chairs and enjoyed some of our favorite Moroccan dishes of pastille (a savory dish consisting of phyllo pastry, chicken, topped with cinnamon and chopped up almonds.), lamb tangine (a stew with lemons, olives and meat of choice) and ended up with a dessert of Seffa (coucous with sugar, cinnamon and almonds). After the nice meal we had a nice evening walk of the square and rested in preparation for tomorrow.

Day 1

Breakfast of croissant and mint tea was served at the Patisserie de L'opera after which we followed the Lonely Planet guide of a tour of old Casablanca, including cathedral de Sacred Coeur, the Anciene prefecture, Palais du justice and the central market in old medina.

In any city, Robert likes to try the McDonald's, so we found the golden arches and Robert inhaled the Chicken Mythique, small fries and orange Fanta. Then we proceeded to a telephone booth to book hotels for Marakkech. We had tried calling places when we were back in Toronto, however there had been a change in the calling codes so we had been unable to book any of the hotels. Our top choices had been Casa Lalla (check out the website, it looks amazing) and Riad Malika but in the end only Dar Soukaina was available. The owner Alain told us to take a petit taxi to Riad Larousse and wait at the pharmacy for someone to take us to the riad. So we checked out of Al Mounia Hotel and left our bags at the reception as we continued our adventures in Casablanca.

Our next destination was Hassan II, the third largest mosque in the Islamic faith, which can fit up to 30 000 men and additional 5000 women for prayer.

We took some time to take pictures and enjoy the view of the Atlantic ocean in the court yard and then had a guided tour in English. The mosque was a one billion American dollar production using all materials from Morocco except the chandelier from Italy. I wish they had been able to open the retractable roof so we could see the amazing machinery, unfortunately that is reserved for times of prayer to direct to Mecca. We ended the tour with the recreational hamman. After the tour we picked up our backpacks and went to the train station and took the train to Marakkech.

When we arrived in Marrakech, we took the petit taxi to Riad Larousse as the hotel owner had instructed. We found ourselves right in the middle of the souks which is a congested old market area.

In Marakkech, the souks are a maze of shops and eateries. We arrived in Riad Larousse which is one of the market places in this maze and was greeted by chaos as everyone was trying to talk to us or convince us to go to their hotel. We waited outside the pharmacie populaire after calling Alain from the Dar Soukaina. He sent a guide and we followed him in a winding pathway of dark alleys until finally reaching a wooden door in the basement. Dar Soukaina turned out to be a haven of tranquilty in the middle of the chaotic Souks.

We were served mint tea and recuperated, consulted our maps and ventured again into the maze to find dinner. We walked around for an hour and decided that a meal of Combos and Craisins would suffice and returned to the hotel for our snacks and warm shower. (Note: Robert had actually stepped out into the markets by himself claiming to look for food for tomorrow's trip. I learnt after the fact that he was actually out trying to find a ring for the proposal but was unable to find anything suitable.)

Day 3
We were awaken by the sounds of prayer mumbling from the walls as it was time for morning prayer. Breakfast was prepared at the riad and we had the best orange juice ever as it was from the tree grown in the riad.

In the day light and with the help of the map and compass (only $1 from MEC!) we were able to work our way through the souks and found ourselves in DJemma El Fna, the central market where many gathered for food and watch performances. Robert kept eyeing the cobra charmers as they were preparing the snake to gobble up a ferret, but we did not stay to watch the atrocity.

Just south of the square was the old Kotoubia Minaret which had once been a tower that called people to prayer. We then tried to go to Palai El Badi however it was closed for prayer and siesta so we took a long walk to Ville Nouvelle which was much newer, nicer and cleaner than the area we were staying. There were lots of shops and restaurants, however there was a particular café that we wanted to try, Café Vittoria, as in our guide book it said that this was a place especially for women. We found that in Morocco, men spend a lot of time at the coffee shops, chatting, people watching or watching soccer and amidst the smoke and stares women are not really welcomed. However the complex that included the café had been torn down so we proceed to Jardin Marjorelle which was a very blue garden now owned by Yves St Laurent.

We then took a cab back to Palais El Badi, which at its prime had been a luxurious palace, but now all that remained was piles of dirt.

We then returned to the market place, DJemma el Fna and had dinner at Chez Chegrouni with the best balcony seats in the house as we enjoyed a good lemon tangine, an amazing view of the market and sunset.

Then with ease we maneuvered through the souks back to the hotel. We met Omar, an assistant at the hotel who helped us plan the next leg of our travel. In order to get to the desert we had to take a bus to Tingher, then Rissani and then Merzouga. Omar was very helpful in that even though he didn’t have any tours to offer he called around and spoke to the locals to try to help us to get all the information. As Robert and Omar finished talking about the details I enjoyed a nice homemade apple pie

Day 4
The next morning we woke up even before the prayers and went straight to the bus station, and found ourselves in a nice modern coach (CTM) for an 8 hour bus ride. We passed through the Atlas mountains and the roads were narrow. We witnessed a truck flip over the edge.

The first stop was Ouarzazate, the film center in Morocco as many American films requiring desert shots are filmed there, e.g. Gladiator, Lawerence of Arabia. We arrived in Tingher and stayed at a nice hotel called Kenzi Sargho at the top of the hill looking down on the town. We tried to go to town for dinner, however because it was prayer time everything was closed so we stayed in the hotel and took pictures of the sunset from the balcony. We were tired and hungry so in the end we just had dinner at the hotel and slept.

Day 5
We woke up and waited in front of bank populaire for the bus to Merzouga, called Voyage Merzouga, it left at 8:30am… BUT we were actually dropped off in Erfoud and our conclusion later was that nothing good happens in Erfoud. On the bus we met a pleasant British guy traveling by himself, named John. He had been to the desert in the past and was spending the holidays in Morocco, he looked like a weathered traveler. John had a Lonely planet guide book as well and gave us advice about our plans to the desert. We found comfort in finding another traveler on the bus of all locals. At 1pm we arrived in Erfoud. The moment we stepped off we were surrounded by a number of men who wanted us to take their taxis to Merzouga which would have cost more than the Lonely Planet advised priced. There were no recognizable buses or people to ask so our instinct told us to go to a hotel or the official bus station to determine how to appropriately get to Merzouga, however, John persuaded Robert not to because he began talking to one of the men (Mohammed). Mohammed claims to have his own minibus to Merzouga, in fact he said he has a Riad there, called Riad Maria. He said we could take us in his minbus to his riad and if we didn’t like it, we could always try a different riad. John being English fell for it. (Robert’s insertion) So thinking John had more experience than us, we decided to follow him… in retrospect this was a grave mistake. We were led by Mohammed down a series of small streets until we arrived at his minibus. It was a tiny little bus stuffed with as many people as it could fit. In fact, it couldn’t even start but had to be pushed. Finally we got going. When we hit Rissani, an old beat up Land Rover was there waiting for us. We started driving towards Merzgouga and about 20 min into the drive, the car pulled off of the paved road and into a dirt path for another 15 minutes. During the ride, Mohammed pulled out a “Lonely planet”. It was a poor photocopy of what he claimed to be the next edition, with his hotel, riad Lahmada, in it. He said it wasn’t listed in the current edition, but was coming out in the next. It was obviously fake. When we finally reached Riad Lahamada, we realized we were trapped. We had no idea where we were and were isolated from all other areas. So we were stuck in this riad. The other day we had booked a place at Riad Tombuctou, which was a much nicer Riad and had even previously housed Hilary Clinton, but we had no way of getting there.

Merzouga was listed in the lonely planet as the starting point for expeditions to Erb Cherbbi, which is the western most part of the Sahara desert. We were quickly ushered to meet the owner of the riad who presented a camel safari for the price of 550 dh each, including the camel ride, dinner, overnight stay in the riad tents, breakfast and the camel ride back to the riad. The lonely planet guide quoted the appropriate price to be around 350 dh and we were clearly being overcharged but we felt we had no options as we were isolated and had no bargaining power.

We started on the camel trek with another couple, the guy from Italy and the girl from Ireland, along with a berber guide.

The camel ride lasted approximately 1.5 hours reaching the middle of the sand dunes where tents were set up. The berger guide prepared a tangine dish with bread and mint tea for dinner.

We ate under a sky full of stars and unwillingly inhaled second hand pot smoke. We spent the rest of the night sitting around a camp fire and gazing at the stars. Then we preceeded to sleep in the tent, under heavy blankets and in winter coats. At 6am we woke up and climbed up the closest and highest sand dune to get a view of the sunrise.

I was taking photos of the sunrise with my newly acquired digital SLR camera and when I turned around to find Robert on one knee asking “Will you marry me?” Which I replied “Of course.”

At the time Robert did not have the engagement ring because he feared safety in Morocco. He had actually tried to find a substitute in Marrakech, however did not have an opportunity to go shopping without me accompanying him. Robert proceeded to take a video clip of the moment.



After the perfect proposal, we went down the sand dune for breakfast consisting of bread and tea. Then we packed up and returned to the riad by camel.

We were ready to leave the shady Riad for Rissani and patiently waited for the jeep. We were sure that we had been overcharged and the last incident to top it off was the head scarves that we had been quoted at 20 dh the day before prior to the camel expedition. However, at the time of payment, he claimed he said it was 70dh each. I began insisting he had said 20dh, however Robert was adamant we simply pay without arguing as we were at their mercy and didn't want to be trapped here at their mercy.



We took the riad jeep to Rissani where we waited for 8 hours for the CTM bus to Fes. The owner of Café Merzouga was nice enough to let us stay for 8 hours where we watched What Lies Beneath and Drumline and then boarded the bus to Fes at 8pm. The driver speeded through the mountains and snow and we shaved off one hour and ended up at Fes at 5am. At the bus station, I had a chance to call my family about the good news, which my sisters all squealed with delight. From Fes we took another bus for 5 hours back to Casablanca.

In Casablanca we went back to Al Mounia hotel where we finally cleaned ourselves after not showering or changing our clothes for 3 days. After the refreshment we proceeded to old medina searching for souvenirs. We found Rick’s Café modeled after one of our favorite movies Casablanca where we enjoyed a delicious meal, had tea and coke as we enjoyed the tranquil settings. We had been on survival mode for the past couple days and decided that our bodies needed to rest with a nice long nap. To end off our time in Morocco we decided to try one of the most highly recommended restaurants by Lonely Planet, Café Maure in the old medina.

We were greeted by a building that was lined with a luscious garden and an old fort wall with canons. The waiters were very friendly and helpful and helped us make choices for a savory meal. We returned back to Al Mounia for a good night sleep and ready for the plane ride to London.

We flew into London an hour late due to a delay from a 4 day fog that had caused chaos at Heathrow. We hadn't booked a hotel in London and soon found that the prices were quite outrageous. So we went online at Heathrow and booked a hotel on Orbitz.com for a much reduced price. We checked into our hotel near the airport and proceeded to dinner and then meeting with Janey and Wongo. It was quite a shock to convert everything to pounds after a week of dirhams.

It was December 24th, 2006 when we arrived back in Toronto and quickly changed from our traveling attire, where another shower was needed, and Robert shaved his 4 day beard (his electric razor broke while in Morocco). The rest of the evening was spent with his family celebrating both Christmas and our engagement.

We took over 1000 pictures between the two of us, so we've only selected a few for the blog, for more pictures check www.flickr.com/photos/tlims

Journeying together through Lent

Attending a baptist church right now, don't have much exposure to Lent. It was last wednesday I noticed that some of my co-workers had Ash Crosses on their forehead. So I searched it up on Wikipedia. And as I continued to search, I came across some pretty good material on Lent on the Mars Hill website http://www.mhbcmi.org/findex.html
downloaded the Lent book and follow them in their sermon series http://www.mhbcmi.org/listen/index.php. The lent book allows one to follow the sermons but also follow with daily bible passages to reflect upon.

Some random things that hit me as I was listening:
Lent - A time to hope for yourself and your world that God WILL transform everything, that He will make things right again.
-a time to be sharing stories, reminders of Hope
- a seson for anticipation - celebration of new life, new
beginning, death conquored.
- a seaon of restoration
Prayer and asking
- how do I enter into this season?
- areas in my life that need restoration
- for an increase in a sense of mystery, tragedy and hope
- praise for Christ's power over death
The initial readings for the week help us focus on two major aspects of Lent:
being aware of our condition and confessing, both individually and TOGETHER.
One big reminder was that it is a good idea to go through it with others, so if you are interested in joining me in this Lent season check it out.

I'm on a rough rotation for the next 3 weeks, but I hope to blog about this journey through Lent.

In Him
Ames

It's been a while since I've posted. Alot has happened since I last posted. Moosefactory, the lessons there, Christmas, including spending my first Christmas with Rob =p, but also loosing a resident in our program in January.

Starting in January there were only 5 left to do the work of 6, including 6 people's worth of call. As you can imagine, the already scarce sleep was getting less.. with an endless list of crazy stuff in the tiny ER room...
- "interesting" characters from all over..
-being called in at 2am by the Dean to recement veneers
- being coined the "fracture queen" - Fractures even followed me to moosefactory!!
- crazy swellings
- chilling with the ER staff

This year has moved mountains though, we managed to convince the higher powers to change emerg protocol that hasn't changed for like decades, giving us at least a wink of sleep at night. I still remember graduation last year, Nosh and I were walking across the Con hall field and we bumped into a former resident who warned us that we were heading into a year of torture. Actually not only has it not been a torture, it has been a memorable experience. .. I am really going to miss Sinai.

Today the staff told us was a Valentine's Lunch... turned out to be a surprise "Hospital Dental Resident Day." Dr. B took pictures of us and posted it all over the room, thank- you notes, a really nice lunch and this amazing cake with our pictures on it. We were really touched... Thank you!!!!!

Pre- Moosefactory

So I have been up here in Moosefactory for nearly 3 weeks and. yes I have been lazy and have not blogged, so decided that I would start recording some of my random thoughts. I have to warn you though, I have had alot of time, hence many random thoughts. I know that I have said to some that I would try to blog, but I realize that when I am in the middle of something I am not very good at keeping record of it, just like with pictures, usually I am so involved in the event I don't take many good pictures. Luckily we had Jesse up here, so on my photo account there are good Moosefactory pictures.

To recount my anticipation of coming up to moosefactory.
Firstly, I had no idea where Moosefactory was, a place that makes moose? For those who still don't know where I am talking about, here's a map. I had this image that I would be in a really remote, cold place for a month, without fruits and vegetables, no internet, not being able to attend TCBC, or see my family and friends... and be absolutely bored out of my mind.

Had a reminder from a couple friends though for an attitude change. Our youth pastor challenged me to use this time to really quiet before the Lord and see what He has to teach me and indeed He has shown me alot.

Random facts

So it seems that I have been tagged by my sister, Supa to share 5 random facts about myself.

1) My nickname since I was a child is Fa Moa, meaning scar faced cat. So the story goes that when I was a kid when I used to eat I would make a big mess and get food all over my face mimicking scars on the face hence the nickname scar face. Cat think cos I would lick the food off my face =p

2) Scars.. to count the number of scars I have... one on my face from when I was a kid, think it was Supa's birthday actually. We had this huge dog doll and I was bouncing around on it and somehow my forehead ended up at the edge of the fireplace... 4 stitches. Think there is still a smal bump.

3) Huge scar number 2, on my left knee from a game of netball. (try looking that up - girls playing ball in shirt skirts... ) I was running for the ball, fell (yes the clumsiness doesn't change) and slid on gravel court for a good 5 inches.

4) Broke my leg when I was in grade 1. Was my first time iceskating. Didn't tie my shoelaces tight enough and little Amy just ran onto the ice, fell but kept skating. Guess my leg sort of hurt, but thought was nothing of it. I got home took of my socks and went "Mommy I don't know why my leg is turning purple and blue." Turns out I had a fracture in my leg. Had a cast for 6 weeks.

5) Think my prone to klutziness has made me have a tendency to routines. One weird thing I have is my morning routine, I seem to establish one whereever I go, including moose factory. Kashecehwan... just ask Jesse.

Hmm to tag 5 other people Vicky, Lyds, Jas, Uncle Simon and Davin!! You're it!

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD. Psalms 150:6

It has been almost two full weeks at Mt Sinai, 1 month since orientation and honestly I can't believe how quickly its been going by. And despite the all niters and being waken up in the middle of the nicest dreams to go into the hospital for emergency calls, I have to say I have been thoroughly enjoying my time at Sinai. I know for sure I am learning lots in an environment which is challenging yet in a sense still protected. Having really awesome roomates also helps.Totally being reminded that God brought me to Sinai =)

My last two weeks have been spent in the operating rooms on an Anesthesia rotation. For those that aren't medically inclined, for the whole rotation I work with the anesthesist in putting patients in sleep before their operations. And though I am a dentist I had a chance to see surgeries from all over the body, orthopedics, urology, internal medicine... So what happens is we give the patients an IV and then give them drugs that make them feel sleepy, then other drugs that make them feel all relaxed... then their breathing stops.... the first time I saw that, my heart almost stopped... reading the theory was one thing but actually seeing it was another. And I had to manually ventilate -to help the patient breath until the fancy machine kicked it. That split second of silence before venilation starts, I was reminded of how we take for granted each breath we take. Years of research, intense monitoring for the task of helping a person breath when lying down. Its not a simple task at all, yet God has it orchestrated so that we can breath spontaneously.. wow..

Reminded me of the verse from Psalms 150:6, that we aren't to take each breath for granted, ratherto have each breath count for God.

One of the doctors, Dr. A. gets to the operating room every morning at 6:30am, checks all the machines to make sure everything is working properly, his wise words, " When things go wrong, its the least expected and want to be prepared." But another thing that he keeps saying as he stretches after a long operation is: " God give me the strength to live each day." Much to learn from him...

There have been some heartaches in these anesthesia rotation though, seeing things I don't want to see. Yesterday was in the abortion clinic, 16 young women for different reasons decided not to have their child... was a really tough day... heart just sort of fell. One woman though put a smile on my face, because the surgery was to place to suture so she could keep her baby.. and she was so grateful..

Tomorrrow is the last day for anesthesia though, starting oral surgery rotations next week. Its supposed to be the most difficult and challenging rotation, long hours standing ( I swear surgeons are abnormal, they don't eat or pee =p) , on call straight for two weeks, and also the mental draining of always being alert to answer questions. So starting monday I might disappear for two weeks =p

Life has been more than just Sinai though. I know one of the reasons I am at sinai, or in Toronto for that matter is the community at TCBC. At the moment God's really put the youth at our church upon my heart. It has been exciting to plan with our new Youth Pastor, Tanya themes to challenge the youth. This coming sunday we'll be asking "What would happen if TCBC wasn't around?" Should be interesting but also challenging even as I ask myself and peers. Really need to get into prayer gear..

Living downtown again is also a new experience, meeting up with people, chilling with roommates (you are welcome to come and chill) but something I really enjoy is the close proximity to all the UT libraries. ( I know nerd =p) I can look up procedure when needed, but also read books without paying a cent. My newest addition is Chesterton's Orthodoxy. A friend challenged me to read it before reading the more recent Generous Orthodoxy. Chesterton is so funny! Haven't gotten far, but one of my favorite paragraphs so far: (Part of the intro as he explains why he is writing this book)

If a man prefers nothing I can give him nothing. But nearly all the people I have ever met in this western society in which I live would agree to the general propositions that we need this life of practical romance; the combination of something that is strange with something secure. We need so to view the world as to combine an idea of wonder and an idea of welcome. We need to be happy in this wonderland without once being merely comfortable.

Christianity?Practical romance?! Gonna read a couple more chapters before bed...

Brazil seems so long ago...

So back in Toronto. Brazil seemed so long ago. They day l stepped off the flight l started orientation at Mt Sinai and boy has it been overwhelming, the information the responsibilities, the hours, the physical & emotional toll from the patient population. We learnt the basics in dental school about trauma huge swellings infections but rarely does a dentist have to deal with them cos they are usually referred to sinai. Which puts the owness on us to read up on management etc studying is no longer for exams but for the patient l am putting people to sleep on monday. As for the hours, there are several rotations the earliest ones start at 7am with the day ending at 6/7 with all the paper work. On top of that are calls at nites, so if the pager goes off at 2am we have to go in and address the case. The story is the pager has a habit of going off in the middle of the most amazing dreams. And the patient population other dentists don't want to treat There are the mentally challenged and disabled where WWF moves and tons of TLC is needed to keep them still Or the drug addict who comes to emerg in the middle of the nite with a facial swelling or street kid with a broken jaw from a fight. Residents from last year say that you become a different person, likely harsher after a year because that is the only way to cope....hope that doesn't happen to my heart. l am feeling a bit overwhelmed even as write this. l think my body became automatic the first two weeks as l didn't get a chance to rest as my first weekend was packed with weddings (surprisingly wasn't tired ....defin need another blog dedicated to that) and then the second weekend remembering dad as it has been 3 years along with the supa back.

Saturday nite after cleaning up after a BBQ l laid in my bed wondering if this was going to be life for the next year....tired and slightly brain-dead. And what about all l had learnt in brazil? The practice of the presence of God prayer ? l was reminded that it was God who had brought me to sinai and that He would give me strength ....not my own ...but his

Sunday morning God continued to show me that he was the one in control. First thing Jenn (Ng) called cos her parents were at retreat and she didn't have a ride down. Past couple months God has really blessed me with this sister who has a real passion for the campus but also youth. We picked her up and she shared with much enthusiasm her nite shift with paramedics team but also excitement from prayer and things on campus. l was wondering my energy went but also passion to serve lord. Really pray for that to be rekindled

Also realized how much l missed praying with brothers and sisters at church for our church for our community. This sunday was also the first sunday the mission team from New Brunswick would be staying in our church. Of course the word mission brought back memories of Brazil...

(palm ran out of battery here.. will finish later =p )

so it seems that i blog better on the plane than any where else. Maybe because its my form of procrastinating. l actually should be reading my books on anesthesia aka. drugging pple up. instead, figured l would finish the blogs about brazil and maybe add a bit more. forgive my lack of capitalization and punctuation, as my palm key board seems to have gone wack.

Brazil - continued...
So left off with the choice between Jenn and Yvonne to go to Pocone with Kevin. So the next morning Jenn went off with Kevin while we set up the boat for patients. We were going to do things a bit differenty; instead of the whole boat going up the river, the smaller speed boats wou go up stream and bring people to the boat.

The morning started off really slow, as it took time to get to the villages and back to pantavida boat. But by 11 o clock the line up formed once again. There was quite a bit of commotion on the boat as evangelism and kids programs were happening on the top deck, next on the list was eye care, then nurses and doctors, physiotherapist and the last stop was the dentist. By this time, Yvonne had become fluent to teach the little kids to brush their teeth so that happened before each of them laid down in the chair infront of me.

Of course I didn't see the whole boat's operation, as I was mainly in the room, however was reminded of the bigger picture in the evening when we all gathered at the table and shared all that had happened.

The highlight of that day for me though, was when Jenn came back from Pocone. Yvonne and i were exhausted from the commotion on the boat and rested in a room before dinner. Jenn returned to the room, covered in dust from the bus ride back but extremely excited. In great detail she described her day in Pocone. With her background in Spanish she picked up Portuguese really quickly, and Kevin and her were Dr. Lucianne's side kicks at the dental clinic.. They used skits and acting to explain to the kids about oral hygiene but also a bit about the gospel. It wasn't as dreadful as Kevin had made it sound.. =p

On the bus ride back though God answered Kevin and my prayer for Jenn in ways we could not have imagined. For the past couple nites, being a group of girls (Kevin was considered a girl as well), relationships was a topic that came up again and again. Well on the bus ride back, Jenn started talking to Kevin again about relationships, and Jay, a member of the texan team joined in. His love story with Naomi his wife, was quite an illustration of God's humor but also divine plan. Both Noami and Jay grew up in Brazil as missionary kids and had met once when they were kids in brazil, and 20 years later they united in marriage. But what Jay shared was more than a love story, rather his testimony about how God had worked in his life.

That naturally led into a conversation with Wilson and the rest of the Brazil worship team about faith. Wilson, l think came down pretty hard on jenn challenging here notion of faith, telling Jenn she had to read the bible every day and that the best book to start with was John. Wilson made Kevin promise to call Jenn everyday to make sure she was reading the bible. Kevin and l were talkng later that nite, that if either of us had suggested such a thing it may have sounded condescending but in the context in Brazil God had His timing.

After detailing the excitement from the day Jenn opened her crisp new bible. l will never forget the look of curiosity and eagerness on her face as she turned to the table of contents and asked what each the books of the bible are about. l think l must have hyper ventilated as l described each book Over the past year l have had a renewed passion for the Old testament appreciating the richness they shed on the New testament. Still can't believe I had a chance to share that with Jenn and Yvonne. Yvonne was saying how she had grown up hearing stories from the bible and reading the picture bible but now she wanted to read the bible for herself =) The running joke afterwards was reading John on the Jon and every nite, after Jenn and Yvonne talked to their boyfriends, we would sit in our beds reading John

As l sit here reflecting, l am humbled by how God answered our prayers way beyond our imagination. And that it was a matter of His timing and not ours. And as I recount Jenn and Yvonne's desire to read God's word, can't help but pray for that passion to be rekindled at TCBC and on my heart especially are the youth. Especially since now as l am back in planning mode, need to remember its God's timing and the work of His Spirit to rekindle the desire and excitement of His people to read His word, but still excited to be a part of that.

The next day we woke up with much excitement as we had decided to all go to Pocone together. And the dental medical and optometry would be set up in the Pocone Baptist church. lt was a 2 hour bus ride and by the time we had gotten there a line up of over 60 pple had formed We didn't have dental chairs any more so in lawn chairs and contortions of the back we performed the dental work

ln the evening in the main town center an evangelistic rally was held. The Toronto team didn't go, so Kevin and A didn't get to sing our Portuguese songs however we were told over 100 declared an interest to know Christ as their personal savior Though stats aren't a goal I am amazed as l think about the fact that over the span of 1 week over 400 people have come to accept Christ. And the numbers don’t end there as the mission team not only built us up but also revived the local churches as they continue to disciple they new believers.

Was talking to Yu about the differences between the States and Canada, with particular reference to Christianity. He noted how in the States, particularly in southern states how Christianity is much more in your face. l could see how the texas team was definitely much more open about their faith and eager to share, they had their testimonies ready and translated. The Brazilians we met were defin open to it but l can see how back Canada it might not work so well. However l am reminded as l read Luke how Christ made the message relevant in the form of parables etc. The next step for me will be to bring the experiences and lessons l have learnt back home