Winter Conference and my wonderful surprise

From Dec 27th to January 1st I was downtown Toronto at Campus for Christ Canada's annual Winter Conference. It was an amazing time just hanging out with my friends from McGill, new friends from other universities in Ontario and Quebec, and those with whom I travelled to North Africa last summer. We attended sessions and seminars with amazing speakers from local churches, and the Campus for Christ ministry in Canada and the US. I learned a lot about God, ministry, evangelism and especially about myself while at this conference.

The main speaker, Roger Hershey, did an incredible job of speaking about the book of Revelations. He spoke four times during the five days we were there. One thing I took away was an increased passion for sharing my faith in Jesus Christ with others. If you read Revelations, you discover that we have so much to look forward to, if we are a committed follower of Jesus. There's also a lot of destruction, deception, pain and death ahead. By sharing what we know about God, and the reality that belief in Jesus changes your eternal destiny, we can help people avoid a lot of suffering if they choose to accept God's free gift of salvation. I realized what a beautiful picture is painted of heaven, of the new Jerusalem, and I people to have the chance to come there, too.

When I returned from Winter Conference, I spent a day and a half with my mom. It was good. Every time we hang out we enjoy each other more. Maybe a reality of my adulthood?

On the 1st, several hours after I had returned home to my mom's, there was an unexpected knock on the door. I opened it, not really looking out the window to check if it was someone we knew. It was a woman, about 40 years old who looked slightly familiar. I stared for a moment before I realized that it was my Portuguese babysitter, Laura. I gasped quietly, and reached out to hug her. I couldn't believe it. This amazing woman took care of me from age 7 to 13 when my mom was at work. She has two sons, Billy and Anthony, who were like brothers to me.

I hadn't really spoken to her or her sons for 7 years. She remains in my mind a beautiful person who gave of herself to others, not really expecting anything in return. She was influential in my life growing up, and it saddens me that I hadn't seen her for so many years.

She stopped by to say hi... and well, wow. I love the way things like that happen... it's crazy! We spent about 45 minutes chatting about life, catching up. If she had've stopped by a day before of after, I wouldn't have been there. I was in Toronto a day before, and was on my way to Montreal the day after. Laura and my mom promised to spend time together soon, and I will definitely be calling her when I'm home on reading week.

Now I'm back in Montreal, finished my first day of classes of the second semester of my second year. I am determined to tackle this semester with discipline. LOTS OF STUDYING! and lots of fun!!! Here's to a great four months!