On Saturday, December 10th, about 16 of our Peru Team fanned out into the city of Ottawa to Serve. As we've done our Peru trips, I've been thinking about a way to get our Congregation serving together in our city too, and a thought came to my mind several months ago.
We go to Peru every other year, and serve there, but the sticky point is when we return and apply what we have learned, discovered, etc. in our daily lives. So often we can slip back into a regular routine, similar to what we were doing before we went.
One way to combat that is to find ways to serve where you live. Hence, I decided to use our Peru group as a pilot project for doing just that. It proved to be quite rewarding for all involved. At first I thought we could combine the event into a fundraiser too. Get sponsors for serving. A couple of people did that, but most just volunteered for the sake of volunteering. Neat!
I spent a couple of months seeking out places for us to volunteer at. I discovered a couple of things as I did this. One is that there are MANY MANY places that need volunteers in the city of Ottawa. Second, is that it's not always that easy to match our gift set with those out there wanting volunteers.
For some places there's a tonne of red tape needing to be filled out. In other places they don't take anyone under the age of 18. Things can change on the fly too. We were scheduled to volunteer in a place, and then that place cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. I don't blame anyone for having to work so hard to get places to volunteer, but it was an eye opener for me.
Our group met at Calvin at 9:00 am. We opened with a short devotion to set the day. It came from:
Matthew 20: 20 - 27
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
21 “What is it you want?” he asked.
She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Quite an arrogant request of the mother, and more than likely the son's as well. I think the reaction of the others was justified. I loved Jesus' response. Our day was going to be a day in which we were not first, or the greatest, but rather servants doing whatever needed to be done. We were going out, not to be served, but to SERVE.
We ended up going to places that were, for the most part, already connected to Calvin in some way.
Our first group stayed right in Calvin and did a task that hasn't been done in a long time: Cleaning the toys in the nursery. They get pretty gross, with kids chewing them, sneezing on them, etc. So, a small group got to work disinfecting things. Here's Jackie showing me she can spell...or something like that.... : )
Lucy and Madii helped Michelle wash toys upstairs using our industrial dishwasher.
I came back from getting some kitchen supplies to find them finishing off cleaning mats that the toddlers used. Apparently they cleaned more than Michelle thought they would.....awesome job.
One of our Cong. member's basement flooded several months ago, and the basement needed cleaning out. Here's Ian smiling and caring stuff upstairs.
It looks like Chris B is having fun too, though I think he could carry a bit heavier items....hmmmm : )
Here's the group planning strategy with Mary-Jane and Graham as to what to do next. They were very appreciative of the help in getting things cleaned up so they can get the basement redone a bit more.
I traveled on to the Bibles For Mission Store to check up on another group of ours. We were going to spend the day helping clean up a large storage area. As you can see from the picture, it's pretty big...and apparently not heated. I didn't know that, so some of our group were pretty cold, but worked hard to stay warm.
Chris found a record apparently made by Fontana. I didn't know she had a record business. You learn something new every day. : )
Ben sorted through boxes and boxes of stuff. Some was kept, some was gotten rid of. Nice hat Ben.
My son found this plate from our church celebrating it's 40th anniversary. He gave it to me, and I think I'll place it in my office somewhere.
Zack got the best job. Smashing old furniture.
He then placed it in a dumpster.
I left for a bit, and when I came back it was coffee time. The place is a community of its own and you can tell this when you stay for coffee time. : ) Here are Colin and Reg relaxing.....but I know that's what Reg does most of the time anyway.....(tee, hee).
I moved on to a house run by Jericho Road, where I found Mina and Wilma hard at work cleaning up the kitchen. This home is a place for men with mental illnesses to live and function in society. It's a wonderful ministry. One of it's residents comes to our church.
He wanted me to take a picture of his drum set.
It's very nice.
I'm always amazed at how Mina can multitask. She talks a blue streak, and still manages to work so hard....
amazing : )
I wasn't so sure about Leah and Megan though. They just talked to me the whole time I was there.....no, they worked hard too...really! The all did a great job cleaning up the kitchen and pantry, and a basement freezer.
They were done early, and had never been to The Mission before, so they took a trip downtown to see it. Apparently they were in the way, so they left. Being downtown, and having time on their hands....what do you think 4 women went and did for about 1 hour.....you guessed it....SHOPPING. : )
Ian's group ended up helping out at the mission. They decorated the cafeteria eating area for Christmas. Here's Chris beside the Christmas tree they put up.
They cleaned off tables and chairs, and well as went next door to the offices and helped out there.
The final place we served was at Park Place Retirement home. My son just happens to work there, but not in the basement. There was a Christmas Bridge/Euchre tournament set up for the residents and Marg, Jackie, Madii and Lucy were to be hosts. They ended up playing cards as well and had a hoot with the residents. They do get cranky if they loose you know.
Jackie enjoyed herself as she learned how to play cards.
Lucy made sure everyone has juice and food. Good thing there was liquid because it was about 100 Celsius in that room. I was only in there for about 10 minutes, and I wanted to curl up and go to sleep.
Here is the room full of people playing and having fun. Service comes in all sorts of packages, doesn't it! : )
After we were done our serving, I wanted to gather us back together again so we could share a meal and talk about our day together. Mary-Jane offered to prepare that meal. That was greatly appreciated. Service begets service sometimes. My wife helped out as well.
When Mary Jane sets out to do something with food, you just know you are going to have lots of it. This time was no exception. The snack food alone was a meal. : ) Those chips are so addictive....keep me away!!!!
We would have started our meal at 4:15, but that group that went SHOPPING lost track of time (go figure) and arrived RIGHT on time..... :) We sat down prayed and then had our meal.
There was salads and rice and.....
.....Tonnes of meatballs.
Joycegina and Mary Jane taking a break while we all eat.
After our meal we talked for a bit about where we went and what we did, and how we felt about our day. All in all it was a good day of service.
I'm hopeful we can do this again next year with families of Calvin and be a blessing in our city. Stay tuned fellow Calvinites for more information on how you can get involved yourself, or with your family unit.
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