Missions, Mosques and Creepy Hindu Temples

This weekend we went on a trip across the Georgia Straight to the wonderful coastal city of Vancouver to attend the 2009 Missions Fest seminar. We left early Thursday morning and arrived on the mainland with plenty of time before noon. Since the seminar didn't start till Friday we decided to make Thursday a day to visit a Mosque and a Hindu Temple to learn more about the religions and then take the rest of day touring on foot around downtown. It was a great day. I didn't really know a lot about Islam or Hinduism before but I found it very informative, especially the Mosque. The Hindu temple was probably about one of the creepiest places I've ever set foot in and the leader there that talked to us brought up some of the most randomest facts about the many uses of cow dung, massaging babies faces, and the idea that if we sit in a car we become part of the car. Nevertheless it was an good educational experience. After that we just split up into groups and walked around downtown seeing the sights of the city. It was nice to be in a city again for the change of scenery, but it also served to remind me that I couldn't live in a place like that for long. By the end of the whole trip I missed the Island. During the nights we stayed at a random church in the middle of no where but it was pretty sweet accommodations. Friday through to Saturday night we went to Missions Fest. I've never really been to a big Christian event like that and I must say it kind of took me off guard. I liked the fellowship of being around so many Christians but after a while I kind of noticed myself getting a little "Christianed" out. At one point a thought came to my head of running down the hallways yelling "disperse, disperse! Go forth and disciple the nations" haha. It kind of started to bug me that we were all in this Christianese bubble and yet the real world was occurring just outside the doors of the convention center. The sessions that I went to were generally impacting, and as I wondered around the many booths lined up containing information of tons of mission's organizations I half expected God to make one pop out at me and tell me "this is the one for you", but it didn't really end up happening. I think out of all of them the YWAM booth stood out the most, but maybe that is because I am just already familiar with it. I have been thinking a lot lately of going back to YWAM next year and doing a Primary Health Care school with the University of the Nations. I want to keep praying about it though. Over all Missions Fest was a neat experience, and it was cool to here from well known Christian speakers like Grace Fox and Tony Campollo.