“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
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My journey with TCM began during the Winter of 2021. I was contemplating what I was going to do in the summer. As a Christian, God commanded us to go and make disciples. I often wondered what that would look like in my life. That curiosity made me think about doing missions overseas. So I applied with my university fellowship to go on a short-term overseas mission trip. Unfortunately due to COVID-19, those plans had to be cancelled but I still felt God calling me to go out of my comfort zone to tell people about Jesus.
At this point in my life, I always had Toronto City Mission (TCM) in the back of my head as my church would help the Flemingdon Park community site during Christmas time and the summer Community BBQs. I thought my opportunity to serve there as an intern that summer was over because the application period had passed. After talking to a friend who works at TCM, she informed me that they are still looking for summer interns. I excitedly and nervously applied as I didn’t know what to expect.
For my first summer internship, I was placed in Flemingdon Park. After completing my summer internship, God has really opened my heart to the Flemingdon community. That summer experience has positively impacted my relationship with God as it was an experience that reminded me of how good God is. During the midst of my worries, anxieties, chaos, and sadness God graciously blessed me to witness His providence He had over me, the rest of the team, and the community of Flemingdon. I was able to learn how to build loving relationships with the children, youth, and their families which overall encouraged me to continue living missionally in Toronto. I wanted to return and continue serving the people God calls me to as His faithful obedient servant.
A specific moment I had where I knew I wanted to return was during the last week of camp. At times the seven weeks of camp can feel long but in the grand scheme of things it really flies by in the blink of an eye. Especially if you are building relationships with children and their families - these things take time. During the last week of camp, I noticed the children acting out more and not really listening to the leaders. One child especially was throwing a lot of tantrums and getting angry very easily at everything. When I sat down with her to have a conversation about what’s been going on. She replied with, “Why do you care? You are leaving me anyway. You’ve only been with us for two months and now you are leaving.” My heart really broke hearing those words, we had a conversation about how tough it must be to open your heart to people but just have them come and go in your life. Her behaviour was an outcry about how tired she was experiencing that. I felt right there and then God telling me that my time at Toronto City Mission is not over, that this is only the beginning.
After returning and completing a second summer internship in 2023, I continued to feel God convicting my heart to pursue a more long-term commitment with TCM, which, through prayer and discernment, led me to embark on the year-long internship (where I am now). Upon completing my undergraduate studies in Child and Youth Care, I felt God calling me to apply what I had learned in school and support various communities impacted by poverty in Toronto.
I was at Flemingdon Park for the majority of March Break Camp. This year, we did not have many children, which was a little discouraging at first, but I reminded myself to seize every opportunity. Since every child was a familiar face, as we had experienced Sonshine Day Camp together before, I took the time to intentionally spend more quality time with the children, as it was a smaller group. I was able to have more conversations with all the different children.
One child, in particular, slowly started reminiscing over camp last summer. She shared with me all her favourite memories, games, and activities she enjoyed. She told me that summer camp was the first place where she genuinely got to learn more about Jesus! So much so that she would go home after camp and search up the Bible verse of the day. She would read it together with her father because she learned that it is important to read the Bible. What an encouragement! God is working in ways that I didn’t even expect. He’s working through us in our program to spread the good news about Him. Praise be to Him.
I hope through my year-long internship to create a space where children can feel safe and open to learning about God. Through God’s transformational power, I aim to build loving relationships that bring hope to children and families affected by poverty.