China GP Training Weekend
On the weekend of March 11-13th, The Central field China Global Partnership met for the first time as a team for a weekend of teaching and training. My friend Dave, IV Staff at OCAD and U of T St. George, is directing this Global Partnership and the meeting was hosted in the home of an IV ISM Staff.
I was talking to Dave as he was preparing for the weekend, and found out he was stressed out about figuring out meals for 17 people. Since cooking for large numbers of people is something I’ve done a number of times and enjoyed; I offered to help with the meals to free Dave up to focus on the teaching time.
It worked best for me to come and cook lunch and dinner on Saturday, as Friday would be a simpler meal time, and Sunday would be leftovers. I asked Dave if he wanted any Chinese meals during the Saturday, and he asked for dinner to be a Chinese meal, but said lunch could be a simpler more generic meal.
It was here, that my ambition kicked in. I decided to undertake making a Chicken Fried Rice for lunch (which I thought would be easy) and then a 6 course Chinese Feast for dinner. I also chose a bunch of recipes I hadn;t tried before and wouldn’t have time to test before Saturday. I made the list of ingredients for Dave to buy, and came early on Saturday to make the meals.
I’d never been in the house where the meeting was held, so I didn’t know that there weren’t many barriers between the kitchen and the space the team was meeting. I also didn’t know there was a gas stove (until this point, I’d never cooked on a gas stove). I found out about these factors immediately, and had to make some modifications about how I’d be in cooking in this space (mostly, i couldn’t have background music playing, and couldn’t verbally freak out if something went wrong). I also had to learn to use a gas stove. Despite these initial hiccups, the rest of the meal preparation went well. It was good to be close to where the team was, as I overheard their scripture study led by IV York KCF Staff, Dan.
I managed to finish lunch relatively on time. And the students thoroughly enjoyed it! There were no leftovers! However, I was running behind on my meal preparation for dinner. So, I called my friend Amber, who I had plans with later that evening to ask for help. Amber is one of my best friends from Ryerson and one of my go-to cooking friends. She came over and helped me with my ambitious dinner preparation.
Together we made:
– Sauteed Beef with Snap Peas
– Vegetable Stir Fry
– Pork Wontons
– And the filling for spring rolls (we ran out of time to make them)
– Egg Tarts for Dessert
I was worried that Amber would be upset about getting enlisted in my ambitious meal preparation, but she had a great time and was excited to learn how to make all these dishes!
We finished all the components of the meal, and served dinner at 6:30. We stayed to clean up and left around 7:30 pm. It wasn’t until we were heading to a movie theatre that I realized that I’d done a full 8 hours of cooking!
I really enjoyed cooking the meals, but my favourite parts of the day were the times when I was able to meet and chat with the students on the China GP team. I was excited to hear about their excitement and fears about going to China. I also had a few moments of getting to spend time with the staff on the GP team, it was fun to partner with them this way!
Cooking at York
This year, all of the members of the GTA regional staff team have been sharing our ethnic and cultural histories (more about my story can be found on my other blog). This has involved us sharing our ethnic background, as well as significant interactions with other cultures that have shaped our identity and ministry; and sharing a creative expression of our stories such as poems, songs or cultural dishes.
Inspired by the cultural dishes that were made, and by a desire to offer a service to his students while exposing them to new cultures; Dan, Campus Staff at York University began hosting bi-weekly community dinners with his York KCF fellowship. During these dinners, a guest chef would come and students would learn how to cook different meals, as well as have meals from a variety of different cultures.
I loved this idea not only because I love cooking, but I loved the idea of getting to spend time partnering with Dan and his ministry at York! I offered to cook a traditional South Asian meal of Briyani on March 7th. On the day of the meal, I headed over Dan’s house with two of my students, and began preparations for the meal. By the time York students arrived, most of the meal had been prepared by my students; but it left plenty of time of fellowship.
The timing of this dinner was shortly after our Kingdom People events; so many of the York students at this dinner had already met my students, and they were able to continue conversations started at Kingdom People.
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this dinner. I knew that I’d be cooking a meal and hanging out with Dan and his students; but it was added bonus when a few of my students accompanied me. Conversations flowed easy and smooth while we ate the meal. I might have made it a bit “too” spicy, and there was a lot of people passing the yogurt to cool the meal. As Brian, one of my students said, “You raised the bar on spiciness”. Despite the spiciness of the meal, the students eagerly ate. Dessert was Chocolate Banana Bread made by Joy, Dan’s wife, which people thoroughly enjoyed and helped cut the spice in their mouths!
After the meal, the students lingered, and continued to have conversations until about 10 pm! It was a really enjoyable evening spending time with Dan’s students and having an opportunity for them to spend time in fellowship with some of my students.
Kingdom People
In January, rather than planning our own separate winter retreats, the GTA regional staff team and students from various campuses got together for three consecutive weeks of teaching and training. We called these events, Kingdom People, as we wanted to follow up on some of the teaching from the winter conference, Kingdom Calling.
We wanted to call the students towards living a life of the Kingdom, by offering stories and teachings about right relationship with God, others, and themselves. Each week, different staff amongst the team lead us through scripture study and interactive application. For more stories and photos of the events, click here.
My involvement with the events varied each week. On the first week, I lead the students through an interactive sensory experience; depicting the garden and the fall in Genesis. I also lead the students in an activity where they were to create a groundling, and continue to interact with their creation throughout the course of the evening. The second week, I helped create personalised invitations for the students, as part of their application of the teaching and invitations they had received throughout the course of the evening. The final week, our household created a meal as part of the potluck dinner served that evening.
I really enjoyed these events and interacting with students from various different campuses. It was exciting to meet them and see how they were processing through the teachings and invitations extended throughout the weeks of teaching. It was also exciting to see the students interact with one another and begin to dream up ways to continue relationship and support one another’s ministries!
As the weeks and months went by, these events served as a marker for many students of significant change and the beginnings of inter-campus relationships and partnerships.
First Week on Campus
With great joy I am able to report that with some additional funding that came in, I am now working on campus with students! There are so many stories that I would love to share, and will be featured in upcoming posts, but I’d like to share a few highlights about my first week on campus.
The first week on campus was January 10th-14th. I started the week by having a meeting with Student Exec President, Vanessa and visioning for what my time on campus would look like and what things we hope to do this semester. It was exciting to have this conversation and starting putting plans in place as I’d been dreaming and anticipating for my return to campus.
After Vanessa and I met, we went to the Student Executive Leaders Meeting. After spending some time catching up and sharing about our breaks, we began to plan and vision for the semester. During the summer planning meeting, we discussed the possibility of studying Romans for the winter semester. It was clear the student leaders were excited about following through with this idea. I was struck by God’s providence as we began to put this plan into motion. During the fall when I was off-campus raising support, I co-led a bible study at my church of the book of Romans. It was an interactive study that included watching a historical video series which sought to portray the context of the letter of Romans, as well as spending time studying the scripture. This study allowed me to connect with people from all walks of life within my church’s congregation and gave me an opportunity to both give back to the community and continue developing and using my leadership skills. At many times during the bible studies, I would walk about struck by the similarities between life in the Roman Empire and life on campus. I was excited to share my experiences of the book of Romans, and also learn from the interpretations and experiences of my students. We planned when we would study which sections throughout the semester, and actually developed our plan by building on the material that I worked with this fall. It was a great moment to see how God had really used my time away on campus to prepare my return as a stronger leader. It was also great to see ways in which my church community was able to tangibly be on campus with me, as I would be able to share insights into the scripture I’d learned from my church bible study group.
With great excitement we made preparations for the rest of the week in ministry. January 12th was the annual Ryerson Campus Caravan, which was very similar to the Campus Groups Day that happened in the fall. The students were excited to meet new students and invite them to be part of the many exciting things we were planning for the semester.
January 13th was the first Inter-Varsity community meeting for the semester. It also happened to be my birthday. It was a fun evening, as we spent time eating together and playing games as well as sharing the vision for what the semester was going to look like. Moses, designed a beautiful flyer for the bible study, and everyone was very excited about studying Romans this term! A few were disappointed we didn’t start the study that evening, as they were very eager to dig into the scripture! Vanessa, and a few students made cupcakes in honour of my birthday, and the students sang Happy Birthday. As they were singing to me, I reflected on God’s timing, as this was my first big re-introduction to the community and He placed it on a day already set apart for celebrating. Birthdays have often been bittersweet experiences for me, and this year, I was surrounded by the love of my students. All my fears about returning to campus and not being able to connect and build trust with students melted away as I heard them sing. We ended the evening with a rousing game of ultimate charades, and I went home excited about the things God would teach us and how He would use us for His purposes on campus this term!
The Arch 