Welcome to Canada, it's the maple leaf state...

Hey there,
I'm actually in Canada now, after several months of waiting. I arrived Monday and was granted a six-month work permit. The past few days have mostly been about getting my bearings. Things are complicated here, but I have had a neat time meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends. Part of me still can't quite believe I'll be here for two years. Just to keep this on the brief-ish side, I'll give you one neat thing that's happened:

Tuesday night I ended up at my Iranian friends' house for dinner. We had another guest who was there to get advice about the hairdressing industry in Vancouver. This lady is from Sri Lanka. She grew up Buddhist. Her family has actually dedicated people out of each generation to serve the idols, and she grew up serving many, many idols. Eighteen years ago, she was teaching in a hospital in Egypt, and she was surrounded by Muslims and all of the trappings of Islam, and as she was there, one day she had a dream of Jesus. She ended up turning her life over to Him, and now she is a sold-out believer who wants to go back to her own people once she has earned the money to print Bibles in their language. We were utterly amazed at her story; God has no boundaries. He reached an animistic Buddhist in the middle of a Muslim country, just because He wanted her in His family.

I am really excited to be here in this time. I'm excited to be around multicultural Christians in a deeply multicultural society. God has blessed me with this opportunity.

Praises:

• In the past few weeks two people have come to Christ out of connections with Christians leading conversational English classes
• I have successfully acquired a bank account and a Social Insurance Number
• Many vibrant ministries are working in Vancouver to reach multiple sections of society, and many of them are connecting with one another

Prayer requests:

• I need to get an apartment--the sooner, the better
• I need to get my bearings on how to get around the city without getting totally lost
• Boldness to share the gospel
• SBs have over 1000 volunteers coming in the next two weeks to help with the Olympics. This is taking quite a toll on the team who are coordinating them; pray for wisdom, patience, energy, and comfort for these team members
• Pray that we as believers look to see where God is working and get in on that, rather than trying to do things our own way
• I need to find out where I fit in all of this; I need wisdom to know where God wants me
  

I love you guys, and I miss you--my friends, my chilluns, and my family. Please let me know how you're doing.
-jmay