In mid-April seven junior and high school students, together with staff and parents from Lakeside Christian School (LCS) travelled to Quebec to show the love of the Jesus to the hungry and the homeless.

The mission team from Killarney spent a week serving with Mission Canada with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada working with Cal and Chrissy Krahn.  The Krahns have close to 30 years of ministry experience and focus their ministry on urban Quebec, specifically downtown Montreal.  

The LCS team participated in sorting food and items at Welcome Hall, a distribution centre in downtown Montreal that provides food and some clothing to the vulnerable populations in that area.

"Our students were also allowed to be part of the 'market' where the people came through to receive these items, and that was a very big eye-opener for our kids, to be able to see the benefits of a food distribution centre for people who are struggling," shares LCS principal Nancy Reimer.

"They got to see how the centre was organized and then the kids were able to help fill a grocery cart per person," she explains. "It was very sobering for the kids. It was very thoughtful for them to see that this was real, that the need was very real."

Reimer says the students came face to face with homelessness over the course of the 8 days.  At the end of each day the group met for a sharing time, a time to reflect on what they saw and how they felt about it. 

"At that time, we take some reflective thought about what was the best thing that happened that day, and what was the hardest thing that happened that day, and then we share, and we pray with each other and for each other, and for the different situations that we came across," shares Reimer.

"And to see a difference in the students in eight days, we wouldn't normally get that if we were to stay in school and stay in the same location," she adds. "But to have them come with us to a place that is safe and to see a different lifestyle and a different place that has been created by God, and to see that people struggle. And that is the same here and there. And to see that outside of their lives, they did have to work on what they learned in those eight days."

A week after returning home the mission team came together again in a debrief, once more to reflect on what they had seen and experienced in Montreal now that they had more time to process.

"We want our kids to consider 'What am I here on this earth for? What am I called to do? And how can I help others?'"

Please listen to more with Lakeside Christian School principal Nancy Reimer as she shares more on their recent mission trip in downtown Montreal below!

"So, it was an awesome trip," says Reimer. "It was very busy because we also did some educational portions spending time in old Montreal for part of a day and also old Quebec City for a full day, and so we did get to see some historical parts of Quebec.