Winnipeg: A Cross Cultural Life Change

Reflecting is helpful when attempting to live an honest life. It helps to see what went good and what has gone very wrong. Like the time I destroyed my sisters Barbie doll for sport. How was I suppose to know it wasn't for blowing up with my army men. Her head can be removed AND replaced very easily. But now I see: If you mess with your sister's Barbie doll your dad will crush your favourite Hot Wheels car.

Anyway. This reflection is on Winnipeg Challenge: A Challenge to reach out to Winnipeg with the love of Christ and to grow spiritually as well. Of course when you think missions trip you automatically think, "MEXICO" or "AFRICA." Not this time. This time we thought, "CANADA." Going, I thought we would be working with mainly muslim families in the inner city, but was I ever shocked when I realized who were working alongside: the Burmese people. Who knew? Who knew that I would be shocked to discover a new culture, shocked to find their boldness in prayer, and shocked to find that God broke my heart for them.

Most of the people in the Church we worked with are refugees. There are a large number of Karen people and some Chin as well. Both are people groups from Burma.

Here's the issue: The Burma (or Myanmar) government decided the Karen people are insignificant and are raiding their villages, raping their women, and stealing their children for soldiers. The Karen people are then displaced from their homes and farms to then be refugees in Thailand. Here is a link for a video about some of this: http://www.freeburmarangers.org/

Alongside of these beautiful people, I had the privilege of reaching out to their city: Winnipeg. We did prayer walks, met people, invited them to puppets, movie night, music, climbing wall, games and even to church. We learned about Islam and Buddhism. We reached to prostitutes and homeless. Is it not ironic that we were not reaching out to the Karen people, but working with them? They have seen the love of Christ in finding themselves alive from gunfire and raiders. They have seen, therefore they show the love and character of Christ.

I was blown away by all of this. This was a refresher because I had to leave my wife at home. Though we talked every day, it was difficult to understand why she had to stay behind. She did the paper work, paid the money, everything. Then this stunned me more: About 5 or 6 years ago my wife went on a missions trip to Thailand and you'll never guess where she spent a bunch of time. She spent it with the Karen Villages that are displaced in Thailand. God stunned me. He wanted to give me an experience and a heart for the Karen and Burmese people, similar to Nadine's experience. I am still blown away by God's wisdom.

There is too much to write, but there are two main reflections I observed: 1) The irony of working WITH the Karen and Chin people and 2) God giving me a similar experience to Nadine's.