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August 2023 was when I went on my first field visitation trip which was in Thunder Bay, Ontario. It was my first missions trip ever which was only a week long, and it was a positive experience. The purpose of this article is to share some of my reflections and learnings from last year, and a few things I’m looking forward to this year as I go again for the second time.

As this was my first missions trip I wasn’t fully sure what to expect, so I built up some expectations about being able to serve God in a significant way, and I thought I would be able to feel like I could make a significant impact when serving in Thunder Bay. This was my initial expectation of how the trip would go, but this was not how I initially felt in the first few days of serving – more on this later.

The Thunder Bay team I went with last year was partnering with an organization called “NorthWind Family Ministries”. They are a ministry that runs programs to help people who are living on the streets, which includes providing counseling and other various forms of outreach to the people of Thunder Bay, with a focus on the indigenous peoples. One of the main outreach events that NorthWind runs during the summers is called “playdays”, and this was one of the main contributions of the Thunder Bay team in 2023. A playday is when the NorthWind team goes to a low-income neighborhood to run carnival style games to outreach to the families there and invite them to other

Reflections From My First Field Visitation Trip

Alvin Lee

NorthWind programs with the goal of them coming to know Jesus eventually.

Each day from Monday through Thursday we would go to a different neighborhood and run the playday outreach event. On the first day I was looking forward to helping to run the playday and meeting the families in the community, and as we got setup and the playday started, many children and families came out and started playing the games. It was a good and fun time, and my contribution was simply running one of the game booths which the children enjoyed. I saw that the families really appreciated the outreach event, but at the end of the day after cleaning up and going back home for the evening I was having doubts about how impactful my contribution was. I felt as though I couldn’t impact anyone specifically and didn’t contribute all that much. My current experience was very opposite to my initial expectations, so I started having doubts about if I would be able to serve God meaningfully during the trip – I thought about this many times that night.

During the morning times, however, we did have some spare time that we could use for personal devotions and Bible reading, and I was lucky enough to be able to use this time for my own personal Bible readings. On the morning of the next day, I did a reading in Mark chapter 5, and I felt as though the passage in Mark 5 came at a good time for me, as if God was speaking to me through scripture. Mark 5 tells the story about the woman who was bleeding for many years and couldn’t be healed by any doctors, but when she saw Jesus she thought to herself that if she just touched his cloak, she would be healed. She did end up touching Jesus’ cloak, and she was healed, which was truly a miracle. When Jesus was able to talk to the woman, he told her that her faith had saved her. What I took from the passage was to have faith in Jesus’ power – that God can make something good from anything that we do, no matter how insignificant we might think it is.

In terms of my serving role in Thunder Bay, the passage was a good reminder for me that when I serve, I can trust and have faith that God will impact the lives of the people in Thunder Bay. No matter how small or insignificant a task might be, I can trust that God can use that for His Kingdom. For example, I could have a small interaction with a kid at a playday, and I don’t know how God might use that interaction to impact their lives. The passage I read that morning was a good reminder for me that I can be called to serve, but it’s not me who changes or saves people, it’s God who does that, and I can just have faith that God will change peoples hearts through our serving. The passage was helpful for me through the entire remainder of the week, and I was thankful that we had time to do Bible readings during the morning as well, because I was able to read this passage that morning.

After this, the remainder of the week went very well. We had 3 more playdays from Tuesday through Thursday, and it was a good time of outreach. On Friday I was able to participate in a street outreach event, and this is where we went out to the streets of Thunder Bay and outreached to the homeless. We shared some water, juice, and granola bars with them, and prayed for them too if they were open to it. This was a very different experience for me – we met a lot of people living in tents, and there were many people just living by train tracks as well. Some of the homeless there were living with their families, and there were even

華基教會 ACEM Churches

多倫多華人基督教會 (TCCC)

Toronto Christian Community Church

100 Acadia Ave., Markham, ON Canada

www.tccc.ca

城北華人基督教會 (RHCCC)

Richmond Hill Christian Community Church 9670 Bayview Ave., Richmond Hill, ON Canada www.rhccc.ca

美堅華人基督教會 (MCCC)

Milliken Christian Community Church

390 Bamburgh Circle, Scarborough, ON Canada www.mccc.on.ca

麥城華人基督教會 (MHCCC)

Markham Christian Community Church

77 Milliken Meadows Dr., Markham, ON Canada www.markhamchurch.com

北約華人基督教會 (NYCCC)

North York Christian Community Church

32 Kern Road, North York, ON Canada www.nyccc.ca

多倫多國語華人基督教會 (TMCCC)

Toronto Mandarin Chinese Community Church 2230 Birchmount Rd., Scarborough, ON Canada www.tmccc.ca

西區華人基督教會 (WTCCC)

West Toronto Christian Community Church

3560 Erindale Station Rd., Mississauga, ON Canada www.wtccc.ca

尼亞加拉華人基督教會 (NRCCC)

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some young adults who were younger than myself living out there on the streets as well. For me personally it was a challenge to connect with some of the people there, but I was able to pray for a few of them, and I was glad I could do that. It was a difficult situation to see so many people who are homeless, but the perspective I took was that this is something that we must rely on God for, because it’s not something we can fix or change on our own.

Overall, my first missions trip to Thunder Bay was a memorable one – I saw God working in Thunder Bay, and I felt that God was able to work through me as well. As I prepare to go again this year, my prayer is that God will prepare my heart, and let me be open to his calling to serve. My hope is that I can continue to see God working in the people of Thunder Bay, and that they may know and love Jesus through the faithful serving of all the brothers and sisters in Thunder Bay.

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Worship: Inniswood Baptist Church 460 Yonge Street, Barrie, ON Canada www.barrieccc.ca

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Worship: Association of Christian Evangelical Ministries 2750 14th Ave., Suite G-05, Markham, ON Canada www.mjccc.net

Cornerstone Christian Community Church (CCCC) 9680 Ninth Line, Markham, ON Canada www.cornerstonechurch.ca

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provincia de Coclé Panama

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