Greetings from the “La Belle Province” (French for “The Beautiful Province”)!
In mid-September, we arrived in Quebec. Elias and Rob came from Kona with many of our belongings and Cy arrived from B.C. Our flights arrived within minutes of each other, so it felt like we arrived together. Within a week we had moved into our home.
(it truly is a beautiful province)
We spent the first few weeks getting everything in order: Elias’ school enrolment, provincial health insurance, Quebec driver’s licenses, vaccination records, etc.
Rob’s Master’s Degree studies continue
October 16th-30th Rob made the trip to YWAM Mazatlán, México 🇲🇽 where he had his second “intensive” for the master’s degree that he’s doing in “Global Pioneering Leadership”. Throughout the 2-year course, there are 5 “intensives” in different locations around the globe. The first one was in Orlando, Florida in June. This one in October was in México. The next one in February 2022 is in Cape Town, South Africa. There are 40+ candidates in the degree program from all over the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. It was a special time of learning together regarding biblical worldview and building key relationships around the globe for the future of global missions.
One special thing about this master’s degree program is that the leaders have built in the use of the SourceView Bible Reader (the tool that Rob built) as a regular part of the course. We’re using it to read through the entire Bible as part of the course. It’s also being used for study on worldview as this tool includes key passages about what God’s word says about family, education, government, communication, celebration (arts, entertainment & sports), religion, and foundational passages that apply to all of those areas of society. During the intensive we entire group read through all of those passages, praying, discussing, and discovering God’s heart for all of society. It was a special privilege to see so many leaders in the body of Christ using the tool that I, Rob, built.
Joining the local Christian community
Since arriving we’ve been getting involved more and more in the local Christian community.
We’re now leading the weekly Bible study in the YWAM community. Cy was teaching online through zoom for the Bible Core Course in YWAM Monterrey, México 🇲🇽 . Rob did a leadership training session for the YWAM missionaries in Kanchanaburi, Thailand 🇹🇭 . We’ve continued to work with our Ending Bible Poverty Now projects: Start Bibles, Share Bibles & the SourceView Bible Reader. This YouTube video shares the story of how these projects began.
We’ve met with the leaders and staff of YWAM Dunham to begin praying into when to start the Bible training we’ve been recruited to do. We’re still praying into that because we just don’t know how long it will take to…
learn French.
We also had the chance to meet with a local pastor, Eric. We learned a lot about Christianity in Quebec, some of which was really surprising. Here are some interesting facts about our current location:
- Quebec is less than 1% Protestant Christian
- Cowansville (the town we live in) is 0.1% Christian
- the population is only around 12,000 people
- the Christian population is about 120
- There are 3 churches in our town:
- a small group of 4-5 people (English-speaking)
- a small congregation of about 30 people (French-speaking)
- the largest church (Pastor Eric’s church) has about 80 people (bilingual)
- Around 30-50% of the church are immigrant or from other provinces in Canada
- Most of the Quebecois (that’s what people born in Quebec call themselves) Christians in our town are over 50 years old
Pastor Eric was sharing something interesting about what he was sensing God was doing. He said (I’m paraphrasing):
“The population had remained the same for 60+ years. It was 9,000-10,000 habitants. However, in the last 2 years the population has grown to 12,000-13,000 habitants (20-30% increase). The vast majority of these new people are immigrant workers. We believe that as a church we need to reach out to these immigrants. The Lord also spoke to me through the words in Isaiah 28:11 ‘For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the Lord will speak to this people.’ I believe that these foreigners are going to be those that God uses to lead the Quebecois back to him.”
Pastor Eric
We have served as missionaries all over the world in places like Africa, South America, and Asia. However, this is the first time that we live in a place with so few Christians. We’ve lived in places where people don’t know about Jesus and there are challenges regarding the preaching of the gospel and the discipleship process, but this is the first time we are living in a culture that has some significant hostility towards God and the church.
Prayer Requests
- Learn French: It’s so valuable to learn the language of the local people. We’ve started some informal learning and we hope to start more formally in January 2022.
- Elias: This is a new season for our son who just turned 11. It’s the first time that he’s the only Christian in his 6th grade class. He’s doing well, but we really feel the need to cover him with prayer. Please join us in covering him.
- To be good learners: We have learned over the years that the first few months (and sometimes longer) in a new location is best used for intentional observation. We’re learning culture in many different areas: our neighborhood, our town, the local church, and the YWAM base. Each are unique and have their own way of doing life. It’s important for us to be wise and learn from others and from God through it.
- Wisdom: one of the main purposes of us moving here to Quebec is to help the YWAM base start up the School of Biblical Studies. We ask that you would pray for us so that we would be able to walk in step with the Lord in terms of timing and other details. We don’t want to go ahead nor lag behind. He’s got wisdom for us and we invite you to ask Him for it with us.
- To be foretastes of the kingdom: The good news of the kingdom of God is truly good news. Jesus encountered so many people in regular daily life and they tasted of his kingdom and desired more. We want to be that for the people around, that our words, expressions and actions would be an attractive taste of heaven.
Thank you for continuing to journey with us through prayer, encouragement, and support. We couldn’t do what we do without you behind us!
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