Wednesday and Thursday evening for an hour we had open dorm nights. So on Wednesday we all visited the guys' dorm for an hour, and on Thursday they came to our's. That was a lot of fun. One of the little rules of open dorm night is that pilfering small items from dorm rooms is perfectly acceptable and encouraged (they are returned later, in case anyone was wondering :-) ). Of course, the point is that the victim doesn't notice. So that was really fun, with us stealing little things on Wednesday night, then setting them up in our dorm rooms for the guys to find on Thursday night.
For Thursday the girls decided that we were all going to get really dressed up, just for fun. It was awesome to see the guys come in in their jeans and T-shirts, while all of us were in dresses or fancy skirts. After they left we posed and took some pictures!
Friday afternoon/evening I was in Red Deer with a group I'm in called Freedom Fighters. Basically, the Lord laid it on the hearts of one of our staff members, Sean Gurnsey, to start a "resistance group" of himself and five students to do street ministry and stuff in different areas. So we try to meet every Friday night. It's been difficult and uncomfortable for me at times, because active evangelism is something I don't find easy. But this week we had some shopping to do at Cosco, and we were told to strike up a conversation with two people, and talk to them for at least a few minutes. Find out something about their family, their life, etc, going beyond just "Hi, how are you".
There were a bunch of employees handing out samples, and we all of a sudden realized that they might be good "targets". They at least can't run away! So I started talking to this lady who was handing out cereal samples. She had an accent, and I eventually found out that she was from Colombia. She had been in Canada for numerous years, but still found English difficult sometimes, but she had to work to support her family. Her name was Yaneth, and she was really nice! We found common ground as soon as she told me where she was from, and I told her that my dad was from Uruguay. That was really cool. I also told her that I was in Alberta going to Bible college. She loved my name because of its Spanish pronounciation!
We chatted for a while, and suddenly she just looked at me and said, "You're different from other people. You look so happy, and peaceful. There's just something about your face...You're going to become a very good person."
Wow, was I excited. What an opportunity! I told her that it was Jesus who made all the difference, and that He could make a difference for her too. I also told her that I would pray for her. She shared that she was trying to save up money to go back to Colombia to visit her brother, who is dying of cancer. I told her that I would pray for him as well.
All in all, it was just a really neat experience. I could tell that Yaneth really appreciated that I had taken the time to stop and talk with her. She said that so many times people just walk by, without so much as a response to her "hello". It was so neat to be able to bless her that way.
So that was just a bit of my week. And now I should really get back to that book report...God bless!
-Alicia
