"It's not the destination; it's the journey."

My journey to Dawson City(YK) was one I will never forget. My brother Sandy and I decided to take the cheap Greyhound Bus trip($145) from Toronto to the west/north. Sandy's destination was Calgary, while mine was Whitehorse. Before we got on the bus, I prayed that I would meet lots of new people and have chats about Jesus with them. This was prayer number one, and it was answered almost instantly.

Sandy and I got on the bus, and even before I sat down, the man sitting behind me said, "Is that your guitar?" (For those of you who are not familiar with my guitar case, it has a gigantic "I love Jesus" sticker on it.) I said yes, and then he asked, "So why do you love Jesus so much?"

Ha. I had to laugh to myself --- this is what I prayed for, right?

I told him that I loved Jesus because of the way He lived - He was all about love - what could be better than that? I also talked about heaven, and how He was the ultimate sacrifice. The man seemed interested and asked me lots of questions, which I tried to answer as best as I could. After I'd given him my shpiel, I asked him what he thought. He looked at me, smiled, and said, "I completely agree."

Huh. Well that was a relief -- he then further elaborated on what I had said, and I could tell that he was pretty hardcore. It was exciting -- Nick told us about his life, and how he became a Christian after his drugs and alcohol past. For the duration of the 5 hour bus ride to Sudbury, Nick, told me story after story of healing miracles he'd seen and performed, as well as his experience with prophesy. Nick has an amazing gift -- God speaks to him about people that he sees, and then he approaches them and asks them if he can pray for them about the very thing that God showed him. I learned so much from this man.

When we got off the bus, he told me that he wanted me to meet the people who were picking him up. Their names were Mike and Diane, and they were extremely kind. We chatted for a little while, and then Mike looked at me and said, "So, do you want to be baptized by the Holy Spirit?" I can only imagine the look on my face; this question caught me completely off-guard, but eventually I managed to speak - "Yes!" The three of them prayed for me, right there in the parking lot. They prayed for things that were so uniquely me - my passion for kids, for the homeless. I'd never met these people before. It was crazy, it was awesome, and it was God.

There you have it; experience number one.

My second experience was quite different.

The second night of our trip, an interesting fellow jumped on board. Benjamin was a loud, crazy, singing man from the Bahamas. Sandy was convinced that he was on a lot of drugs. He woke up in the middle of the night yelling, as if someone was trying to kill him. He'd never been to Canada before, and it was obvious. The bus driver threatened to kick him off if he didn't stop yelling.

Benjamin sat directly behind me. I prayed once again, "God, if You want me to talk to this guy, I'm going to need a lot of courage and strength." During a pit stop, Sandy and I took out the map of Canada and began tracing our journey. When Benjamin got back on the bus, he wanted to know where we were and if that was really all Canada. He simply couldn't get over how big it was. This is how my interaction with Benjamin began. When we began to converse, I realized that he was actually a pretty nice guy. He told me all about the Bahamas, and how the girls there are always "scheming." He didn't trust girls - he thought they were cheaters. That was that. All girls strive for material possessions, and when they get tired of their boyfriends, they cheat. I tried my best to assure him that not all girls were like that.

We spoke for the next 5 hours, probably. Somewhere in that time Benjamin developed a bit of a crush on me, and told me that he thought I might be "the one." Hmm. He was quite flirtatious, inappropriate, and I was ready to get off the bus. With approximately one hour remaining, I told him that I was going to go talk to my brother for "a minute." I stayed there until we reached the bus depot. Benjamin said to me, "I know you ran away from me, but don't worry; we're cool."

Phew.

I was sort of confused at this point; I tried my best to love him. Did I love him too much? How does one handle a situation like that?

On the bus, Sandy gave me some brotherly advice. "Linds, you're too trusting of people. You have to be more careful. Not all people are nice. Okay? You have to be cautious."
"Yeah, yeah, Sandy," I thought. "I'm a big girl, okay?"

Sandy and I said goodbye in Calgary, and I continued on to Edmonton. I'd never been there before, but the city looked very nice as we drove in. We arrived at the bus station and I was by myself for the first time, though I thought nothing of it. I sat down on the floor with all of my bags, and took out my laptop to recharge it. About two minutes later, I was approached by a First Nations man who was selling art. He asked me if I'd like to buy one of his drawings as he showed me his work. It was quite good, so I agreed. $15 each. A bit pricey, but I wanted to support his business. Plus, he spent about five minutes explaining to me why they were $15. I only had a fifty dollar bill, and he told me he could get change for me. The warning signals flashed in my head: "Lindsay, don't give him $50, he'll never come back!" However, I ignored them and gave him the money. To his credit, he left his portfolio beside me, so I wasn't too worried. Soon after he left, I saw another First Nations man who had tried to use a payphone but was unsuccessful. He banged on the phone with his fist and then came towards me, falling down at my feet. He looked at me and said, "Excuse me, can you help me? I'm hungry." I said to him, "You know what? I have a whole bag of food here and you are welcome to have whatever you want in it." I gave him some chips, pretzels, granola bars and an apple. He looked me straight in the eye, and said, "Why do you care about me? Why do you love me?" "I care about you because God cares about you, and I love people and want to help people." He then asked me to help him stand up, which I did. It was at this point that I could smell the alcohol on his breath. He asked me if I had a husband or a boyfriend, which I answered no to. He then asked me to give him a hug, and I did. He made some inappropriate physical contact and I pulled away, but he didn't let me go. I was getting a little scared, and told him quite honestly, "You're starting to make me feel a little uncomfortable." He apologized and let me go. I gathered up my things as quickly as possible and headed for the A&W. I sat down at a table and cried. It was a scary experience. Thankfully, I knew of a girl(Sheri) who was also travelling to Whitehorse. I found her in a bathroom and asked if we could hang out for a while. Even after Sandy left, I was never completely alone during my travels. That was a huge blessing. The man who sold me a drawing did eventually come back, although he gave me the wrong change. At that point, though, I didn't care - I just needed to get out of there.

Sheri and I boarded the Yukon-bound bus at midnight. I was so happy to be on the bus again.

The next day was less eventful. We travelled through northern British Columbia and it was by far the most scenic portion of the trip. I spent most of the afternoon going from one side of the bus to the other, taking pictures of the beautiful mountains and rivers. It was breathtaking. I met a couple of new people and had some good chats. It was a good day.

When I awoke the next morning at 2:15am, I heard a girl crying, "It hurts! It hurts! Don't leave me here! Help me!" I had no idea what was going on, but the guy sitting next to me informed me that we had picked up a young man and woman who had been in a car accident. The man was completely fine, while the woman was clearly not. At one point we had a police officer, doctor, and paramedics in the bus, trying to get the girl out of the bus and on to a stretcher. I don't think she ever stopped yelling in pain. It was pretty frightening. I don't know what happened after that - we were an hour late for Whitehorse so we kept going on our way.

I arrived in Whitehorse at 5:30am, and a guy named Danny and I split a cab to the airport. It was definitely the tiniest airport I'd ever seen - we flew AirNorth, which meant that we didn't have to go through security, our boarding passes were little pieces of laminated paper, and our stewardess handed out muffins from a basket. It was lovely. I slept for basically the entire flight, and was woken up by the flight attendant, who asked me if I was going to eat the muffin and drink the juice in front of me, because we'd be landing soon. I ate quickly(a rare occurrance) and before I knew it, we'd arrived in Dawson City.

I realized that I didn't know where I lived - all I knew was that our house was on Seventh Avenue. I called our house, but no one answered. I then phoned the hotel I'm working at(Westmark Inn) and who should answer but my dear friend Stephanie, who I'm living with!! She picked me up from the airport and drove me to my new home.

I'll save a description of Dawson City for a further post -- it deserves one all to itself.

*Lord Jesus, You are powerful, mighty, and amazing. If there is one thing I've realized during this journey, it's that you answer prayers. Thank you for keeping me safe and getting me here in one piece. I am so, so, so thrilled to be here. May Your will be done this summer! I love you. In Jesus' name, Amen.*

"Those that have gone to the country in the north will do what the Lord's Spirit wants them to do there." -- Zechariah 6:8