Being back from Costa Rica has been a pretty big adjustment. I am grateful to be in the Training School at Common Ground. We left for Toronto on the 25th....this was our first time meeting one another.
7 of us packed into 2 vehicles and headed to Toronto. Far too much amazing things happened that I cannot describe through words. The experience was what it was and I almost feel like I wouldn't do the experiences justice by trying to write about them. We walked approximately 15 miles each day through the city. According to my friend and teacher Larry there are 138 different ethnicities in Toronto. While walking through the city we were exposed to a wide variety of cultures and lifestyles. It was cool to be walking through the gay/drag area then walk into China Town, then into an area called Kensington. Kensington was cool because it was almost like everything was packed into one. For instance: (I don't know exactly where people were from) the cheese shop had people from one country, the meat shop was ran by russians, another meat shop was ran by a family of Ukrainians, there was a Caribean store that had Jamaicans or maybe they were Haitains? I am not exactly sure, but I heard tons of different languages and many different looking people all living in harmony. There was a rhythm to it all. In the park there were people from all walks of life all hanging out. People pushed their children down the slide and on the swings while groups of people smoked weed and drank, while a group from Ukraine played live music, while the skaters skated, and some couples played games....it was like everyone was doing there thing together, but not actually together. It had a unique feeling about it all.
We walked together a lot and we figured it was intentional. Jesus walked with his disciples and shared there stories together. They ate together as well....this is what we did for 5 days straight. Some nights until 3am or so. We shared everything together. Everything was shared. Kind of like what it must have been like in the early church. It created a sense of brother sister relationship rapidly. Rapidly is not a fast enough word. I think this is going to be one of the best years of my life. I am sure there will be some tough times ahead, but It is nice to know that I am going to be going through it by people that love me.
