Canada- Day 3- In need of an encouragement!

Hey friends! So we have finished day three of our mission work at Red River College. We went to the bigger campus (remember there are two campuses) today, and there are definitely more than the few people we saw yesterday. We went to the cafe and grabbed a coffee and pastry, and sat down to survey the cafeteria. I noticed that people either sat in large groups, or by themselves and were studying. So just looking around, it felt really hard to just approach people. I then asked a group of guys sitting next to us where do most of the people hang out, and he then told us a few key places. The first place was called the "Cave." After we walked in, we realized this was a study area and everyone was very quiet. Then, we went to another room right next to it. It had pool tables, video games, and chairs to hang out. Immediately, when we walked in, I felt out of place. It seemed like everyone just stared at us, so we played a game of air hockey and sat down for awhile. Then we decided to look around the campus and prayer walk.

After prayer walking, we decided to grab lunch, split up, and try to sit down with people who were sitting alone. We had the same encounter as we had earlier with people just not seeming like they should be approached. So we went outside to the courtyard to eat lunch and try to join a group. The group we sat down by was a group of girls. After listening to their conversation, we realized the were studying out loud for some kind of medical exam.

At this point, I know for myself, that I was extremely down. I felt that I was not accomplishing much, and I felt that all of my approaches to people were failures.

We decided to split our team up differently because Ben and Jennifer seemed to be having a lot of luck talking to people. So my new group went back to the game room because Ben really likes video games and he thought he would have an in with these guys. This did not work either because the guys were really rude and completely shut him out.

Then we decided to go back to the cafeteria and talk to people. The first girl we talked to and asked to sit with did not want us there so we moved on. Then we saw that there were not many people at all there.

Overall I've felt very down about what we have been doing. The only positive thing I feel that I personally have accomplished is surveying the campus. This was the main goal of going to the college, to find out if there are any mission opportunities going on here. W asked the Student Services and they said there was no such group, but students are very welcome to start one.

Miriam feels that the best way to do ministry here is by doing something we do back home called "Noon Day." It is a free meal provided by local churches, and the students come to here a short devotional by another student and they are given a free meal. All the students at Red River College are commuters and I think this would be very receptive and welcomed!

Tomorrow we will be going to neighborhoods and inviting people to come the the "Family Day" we will be having in the park on Saturday.

I know we have awesome people praying for us and I am so very thankful for this. Without prayer and coming to God, nothing can be accomplished. I ask that you specifically pray for myself: that I would not be so discouraged about talking to people, and also that I would find at least one person willing to talk to me. Also pray for the other members of my group: Ben, Jennifer, Miriam, and Jordan.

-Bethany