Justin's Adventures with IVCF: VUP

Sunday, June 9, 2013

VUP - Daily Schedule

So instead of trying to explain ALL the exciting things that happened on VUP, let me share with you the typical schedule of what each of our days looked like.

6:30am We pack away our bedding so our room can be used for shelter programming during the day.

We were actually setting up but it still looked like this in the mornings too

7:15-7:30 We eat breakfast at the detox recovery center. Here we meet the nicest guys you'd want to meet and have engaging conversations over breakfast with residents of the program.

Marc Andre & Stewart. Friends from Detox

7:30 to 9:00 we like to go hang out at Waves and do our devotions and read the paper.

9:00 to 11:30 we hold our morning Bible study at a nearby Catholic mission. The first week: Amos, the second week: Sermon on the Mount, the third week: Urban Theology. All which were incredibly challenging regarding God's clear call towards social justice. During days we don't have Bible Studies, we had some speakers come and share their experiences with us.

Bible Studies

When the weather is nice

Philip Owen - Mayor of Vancouver (1993-2002) speaking at VUP

11:30 For lunch we disperse in the neighbourhood to find lunch by lining up or paying a few dollars. Each week we receive $10 which has to cover some of these. Making $10 stretch is a great challenge for us who are used to so much excess.

Getting to know the Neighbourhood

1:00 to 4:30 Our afternoons are times to participate in internships with service organizations downtown - there are over 200 in the DTES. We only focused on 4 (Salvation Army, Jacob's Well, Servant Partners, Mosaic Church)

Jacob's Well - Arts & Crafts time

4:30 to 10:30 We cook our dinner together at Mission Possible. Some evenings we hear from special speakers. We always end the day with a debrief and prayer. We also like to have a lot of fun just hanging around =)