Hey guys! ok, so i know i'm backtracking a bit, but i feel you deserve a better, more lengthy description of what i've been up to.
----Rewind to October 17th----
So my friend here, Geoff, made me some earrings out of fimo (modelling clay) and i had to stretch my ear lobes (i've got 4 holes total) to get them all to fit. but i love 'em!
today was our day of silence. we're still on the houseboats and every night we "dock" at some place alongside the shore. Today after breakkie we remained anchored and weren't allowed to talk or attempt communication with the other group members until 3pm. so i went for a hike to these waterfalls. sweet beans, they were a-MAZ-ing!
On the way back from the falls God asked if I could hear Him. The birds were singing uber loudly and the waterfall was crazy loud. So I was all like, "yes, of course!". and kept walking. Almost immediately the falls dulled and birds quieted and everything was still and i couldn't hear much, except for far-off noises. The Lord asked me again, "Can you hear Me?"
I paused and knew that He was there in the silence. "Yes, God, I can," I replied.
"No, can you hear Me?" He said once again.
This time I stopped and closed my eyes. And I could hear Him. He was singing. Singing. Singing over me! I was so blown away! It reminded me of Zephaniah 3:17:
"The Lord your God is with you; He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you; He will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing."
Score!
He also taught me alot about my pride. Jesus showed me and the group as an entire dogsled team running a race. I wasn't the lead dog, but I was near the front. The Lord said that He's put me close to the front so that I can help the weaker ones. He's trained me for leadership, but I'm misusing and abusing that gift when i treat the rest of the team poorly. What's worse, my pride and misdirection may cause other dogs to trip and fall and on a team as such, if one goes down, many others will fall, and all are affected. God doesn't yoke me with others to boast of my experience, knowledge or strength (because in all honesty, i have and am nothing). I need to let the Spirit teach and lead through me as humbly and gently as possible. And with leadership comes responsibility. So I need to be the first to step up and take the shaft for things that go wrong and I need to be at the very bottom in order to help others climb. It's humbling. and I'm not humble. ouch.
"Search me, Oh God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Ps. 139:23-24)
----Rewind to Oct 19th-----
Day one on the streets. So we met at the YWAM base on Commercial Drive in Vancouver and had a briefing on street missions. Then we were split into groups of 3. I was with Kevin and Megan and our first job was to complete a "scavenger hunt" type deal-io. We had to find out what the price of the cheapest hotel on Hastings was, listen to someone's lifestory, that price of a ticket to Hong Kong, the services available at Carnegie Center, find a soup kitchen to eat at, figure out how much it cost to buy ginger tea, etc.

The first thing we saw, however, was a dead man on the sidewalk. A bunch of police/first aid dudes arrived quickly, but he was almost immediately covered with a sheet. it was sad.

Then we found a Native Medical Clinic and while we were leaning over to look at a sign that told us all the places where lunch was served and what times, this one guy in the line sitting against the wall totally freaked at us. It was kinda hilarious. Converstation as following:
Man: "Hey! Can you give me a little space? You're leaning right over me!"
Janelle: "Oops, sorry about that."
Man: "This is an HIV Positive line ONLY. Do you have AIDS?"
Janelle and Megan: "No."
Man: "And do you WANT that?!? DO YOU?!?!?"
Janelle and Megan and Kevin: "Um... no..."
Man: "GOOD! Now get out of here!!!"
So we left.

Then we walked down this alley and this gu y explained to us the art of breaking into an ATM Machine, one of which was lying in pieces in that very alley. But he didn't lift it, he promised! lol. he did, however, know exactly how the thing was taken apart and all the 20's were jacked. We took the ATM's keypad back as show-and-tell for the rest of the group. The guy also asked Megan if i knew that my track pants were inside-out. She assured him that I did. and they laughed. (*Side note: I was TRYING to look homeless, ok? haha!)

Next we rung the door of this building that looked like it had some Buddhist designs on it. and we were right! It was a Buddhist temple/school. we went inside and looked around. and then a Rev. Lisa came and talked to us for 1/2 an hour! it was really interesting, esp because she mentioned how she grew up Catholic and prayed that God would show her a way to the truth and then she stumbled across this Buddhist temple and how she now can make sense of life and all she knew before, etc. she was really sincere and kind and invited us back, and she left us with a lot to think about.

We went to a Youth Action Clinic. the people there thought we were homeless kids and tried to sign us in and invited us to come to the youth awareness meetings to learn about safe injecting and preventing AIDS and becoming street safe, etc. it was wierd to have someone treat you like you actually were homeless. they were uber nice.

We ate at the Union Gospel Mission. mmmm! (no joke, my muffin was awesome!)

Panhandled on Robson Street. that was harsh. I got hard-core ignored. Some people gave me sympathetic glances, but i made no money. this one guy offered to take me out for coffee tho. but i couldn't leave Megan and Kevin (they were on other corners) and i really didn't need it, so i told him what was really going down.

That night we ate at a place called "Riddim and Spice." it's a Jamaican restaurant on Commercial Drive. we had Jerk Chicken! it was so awesome.

Then we had gelatto for dessert. no joke, we had gelatto 4 times in 3 days! ahhh! but i still love it.

----Rewind to Oct 20th----
Today I was put in a group with Peter and Niki. We picked up garbage on "The Drive" for about an hour. There was this guy selling clothes and other goods under the skytrain bridge. I was cold, and found this sweet grey wool sweater and Ryan (the vendor) sold it to me for $4! score! Then we met up with these 3 native guys on the street (Alan, Duane, and Joseph). we took them for lunch at McDonald's and in the line, Irene (a friend of the 3) walked in, so we bought her a meal too. We all ate there and then Irene's husband, Lionel, came in! So he finished off her meal. These guys were awesome! they talked about their street families and how communal and dependent they all were on one another. Irene told us about her pets: a coyote, a skunk, a raccoon, and rats. except that the skunk left. And one rat just had 2 babies! So she asked us for names. I suggested "Peter" (The real Peter laughed and agreed) and "Elvis" (because they loved talking about famous people, like John Travolta). another funny story, Alan packed away his 2nd cheeseburger and 1/2 his fries up in Joseph's Big Mac box cuz he wanted to save it for dinner. He asked if anyone had a backpack that he could put his burger in for the time being. and i was all like, "um... Alan, you're wearing a backpack" and he was like, "I AM???" and was all excited about that. haha!
They took us to their dumpster behind McD's, but we had to go get back to the YWAM base for the evening. We got SO many hugs, just over and over and over. it was uber amazing. and then Peter asked if we could pray for them. So we did, but when we started, only 3 of them were there with us. by the end of the prayer, the others showed up. and Duane was all like, "Why didn't you invite me to this? I want prayer too, you know!" and Lionel heartily agreed. so we appologized and prayed again. it was the best!

that night we ate at "The Addis Cafe" for Ethiopian food. It was SO AWESOME! then (surprise surprise) we went out for gelatto for dessert! except this place has 390 flavors! they change them daily, so we only saw about 200 of them. but it was insane! they had good flavors, but then some raunchy ones, like curry, rice, chili chocolate, balsamic vinegar, etc.

after that we went back to the base and watched some doc's on real-life stories of prostitutes. my group was Dee, Geoff, and Xena and it was our task to take a rose, walk around the industrial area of Vancouver and pray and then give the rose to a prostitute. it was good. but hard. the saddest thing was seeing the same vehicles circling over and over and the cars had a single man in the front. and lots had car seats in the back. heart-wrenching in the least. we honestly didn't know what to pray. we didn't want to ask that the girls didn't get picked up, cuz then their pimps would beat them mercilessly. but we didn't want to ask that they would get picked up either. gah!

---Rewind to Oct 21st---
Went on a temple tour. Muslim mosque, Buddhist temple, then Sikh temple. I've done a temple tour before, to the exact same places, so it wasn't as interesting as it was the first time i did it. but it WAS good, that's for sure.

And now? I'm at home! Until Monday morning. I've been so blessed already with the amount of people that i've been able to see, so that rocks. But it's psycho late so I should go to bed.
if you want me to write you snail mail, just send me your address (either comment on here or email it to wwjd_veggie_tales@hotmail.com). Here's my address from Oct. 25th-November 13th:
Sunnyside Christian Retreat Center
Janelle Robinson
c/o Outtatown
202 Birchcliff Road
Sylvan Lake, AB
T4S 1R6

Here's my addy from Nov. 14th-Dec. 5th:
Camp Evergreen
Box 492
Sundre, AB
T0M 1X0

mucho love!