It is a time of reflection in my life now after my onSite. This is where I get to look back and see what God has done in my life, what I have learnt and what is changed as a result of this cross-cultural experience. So what are some things that I have learnt? So here are 3 important changes that I have learned during my onSite.
Patience
Language learning is the hardest part of my onSite. When I came to Quebec City, I only knew 5 words in French (Bonjour, oui, non, merci and au revoir). At first I learned how to repeat random phrases like je ne sais pas ( I don’t know) or Quelle heure est-il? (What time is it?) and even memorizing these words took more than a couple of weeks for me to remember how to say these phrases. After I was in Quebec for about 6 months, I was starting to be comfortable using my French in normal situations. But boy, did it take so long before my French was an integrated part of my life.
Taking initiative
It really does take courage to talk to others in French. First of all, I am not someone who really does up to random people in Calgary or Edmonton and say hi. And in Quebec, it is much harder because of the language barrier. It is a challenge for me to go up to random French people and say Bonjour, if that is the only thing I can say to them. Through the course of the 7 months that I have been there, I have gradually learned and forced myself to start a conversations in French.
Messy Ministry
It is always easier to say to tell other people to step out of your comfort zones to tell non-Believers about Christ. It is harder to go out there and actually be the person that goes and tells other people about Him. I was working in a soup kitchen (Café Recontre). It was totally uncomfortable to be working with homeless people because I have never really worked with homeless people before. I mean I volunteered at Salvation Army and at rez we have past out sandwichs, but never something more than once or twice. The people there were friendly and many of them could speak English. In fact, many of them came from Alberta! It was quite interesting to know some of these people and how they got there to Quebec City. It was messy in that I had to come out of my comfort zones to talk to them, serve them food and clean after they left.
All of what I have learned tied in with each other as well. I could not have conversations with the soup kitchen people unless I applied what I’ve learned in French and took the initiative to go to other people to say Bonjour or hi. This is not all that I have learned, but these are the top 3 that I have been learning and I know that this is a continuous process.
Who gives me this ability to learn these things? God. It really is all about Phil 4:13 "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
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